The Wilkerson Sister
by pizzafan123
Summary: Charrlote "Charlie" had four brothers. Francis, Reese, Malcolm and Dewey. They lived with their crazy mother and weird father. Charlie had to grow up being the only girl in the house, excluding her mom. She was young too, only 12 years old. See how she deals with her crazy family growing up.
1. Pilot

**Wilkerson Sister**

**Season 1 Episode 1**

**Krelboyne**

I woke up to Malcolm's back. I had a small bed between the other two beds. It might be weird for a girl to be sleeping in a room with three brothers, but we didn't have room and I didn't care...much. I could hear Reese's left nostril wheezing like it does every morning. I yawned and rolled out of bed. I grunted. "Malcolm."

He nodded back. "Charlie." I stumbled to the bathroom, clutching my clothes. It was the same thing every school morning. I had four brothers. Francis and Reese were older by four and one year respectively. My brother Malcolm was younger by a year and Dewey was younger by six years. Even if I was older than Malcolm by a year, we were in the same grade, but different classes starting in the 5th grade. I was too late for school because of my birthday was too late in the year. Through elementary school, me and Malcolm would be doing some prank or fighting with with each other. I shoved on blue jeans and a t-shirt. I ran a hand through my shoulder length dark blond hair and rubbed my blue eyes, the same color as Malcolm's.

I heard Mom yell. "Malcolm! Reese! Charlie! Dewey! Get in here!" I ran out of the bathroom. Better not to make her wait. I was shoved by Malcolm and Reese, who were shoving each other.

I shoved them back. "Hey! Idiots!"

I knew the looks on their faces, but then Mom yelled. " Only two toaster waffles left. Two of you has to eat cereal." We all ran forward and Reese grabbed the waffles, throwing them in the toaster. Reese was obviously getting one of them. Dewey called us cheaters and I laughed at that. Dewey is the baby, he's never gonna win. I made a face as I turned. "Aw, come on."

Mom fixed me with a _look. _"Charlie, you know I have to do this."

I made another face, but nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Better to just agree with her. Mom said, shaving his shoulder. "It seems like such a shame to dump it in the trash. Maybe birds would like to make nests with it or I don't know, you kids could use it for school projects. Arms up."

We were sitting at the table. Me, Malcolm and Reese turned away. There are many parts of Dad I don't want to see and that is at the top of the list. Reese grimaced. "Dude!"

I muttered. "That's what I'm saying."

It's like they forget a girl lives here sometimes. Reese takes one waffle and I snatch up the other one before Malcolm could. Malcolm snapped. "Hey! Give me that!"

Reese snickered and I shoved Malcolm away by his face and using my other hand to shove the waffle in my mouth. I shoved the rest in my mouth, my cheeks bulging. Malcolm glared at me, shoving me out of my chair. "I wanted that."

I grunted. "Ow."

I grinned at him on my back from the floor. I made sure he could see the waffle. He looked ready to attack me, if not for Mom's voice. "Charlie, Malcolm! Knock it off!"

I swallowed my food, picking up my chair and sitting down. Mom said. "Malcolm, I want you to come after school. I made you a play date with Stevie Kenarban and you have to take a bath."

I looked at her in surprise. Malcolm shouted. "What?! Mom! No!"

Reese laughed. "Malcolm has a play date."

Malcolm snapped. "Shut up. Reese!"

Dad asked. "Why is playing a problem?"

I grinned. "Malcolm's not Dewey's age."

"God, shut up Charlie! And I don't even know Stevie!"

Dad put his leg on the table. I rolled my eyes, '_Why'._

Mom said. "His mother said you ate lunch together."

Malcolm exclaimed. "That was one time. He rolled his wheelchair next to me. It's not like I could just say, 'go away'! He's not even in my class. He's in the Krelboyne class, next to tetterball. "

I noticed the 'lecture' look Mom had. "You listen here, young man, that one lunch obviously meant a lot to Stevie. He's a human being with human feelings. You're gonna be friends with that crippled boy and your gonna like it, Understand?"

I smirked at Malcolm and he glared at me. He looked back at Mom. "Yes, Ma'am, understood."

"You kids take your legs for granted, like nothing could ever happen to them. Let me tell you something. That is just wishful thinking. There's meningitis, car accidents, I could actually be giving you a spanking and accidentally snap your spinal cord. Everyday is a lottery and you count yourselves lucky you don't have to scoot yourself around town with your hands." I squirmed at that. _I'd believe that. _

Dewey grinned. "I don't take my legs for granted, Mom."

Mom told him. "I know, honey. You're a good boy. Stop playing with yourself."

I snorted, shaking my head. We all got ready for school, grabbing our packs and Mom herding us out the door. Malcolm bumped into Reese, who threw him in a headlock. They were shouting at each other. I scoffed. "Idiots." Even with how smart Malcolm was since we were kids, though I usually get involved somehow. I walked past them with Dewey. "C'mon Dewey." I saw our neighbors run past us and laughed. That doesn't change. Mom called to watch after Dewey so he didn't get kidnapped. I called back. "Got it." No one is their right mind would kidnap a Wilkerson kid. It was funny to even think about.

Dewey asked. "You're gonna walk me to school?"

I gave him a look. "No way."

Reese called to mom. "Yeah, Mom, that would be terrible." Reese turned to Malcolm. "It's your turn to walk with him."

Malcolm said. "I walked him yesterday and the day before."

It was getting a little hard to hear when because I was quickly walking away, but I heard Reese say. "I walked with him when he wet his pants."

I then heard. "CHARLIE!"

I darted off. "See ya!" They called me names, but I ignored them. One of them was stuck with Dewey. I was yanked by the back of my bag strap and punched in the arm hard. I knew who it was. "Ow! Jesus, Reese!"

He shoved me away, laughing. "That's what you get!"

I rubbed my hurting arm. "Ow. Asswipe." He laughed at me again, running off toward school.

/ / / '''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''' / / ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' / / /

"Hey Shelly!" I ran over to a friend in the school courtyard.

She smiled at me. She had long blond hair and green eyes. I known her since elementary school, in like the third grade. "I heard your brother was sent to the pysch ward."

I snapped my head toward her, offended. "What!? Francis?! Hell no! My older brother is awesome, he got sent to some private school." Well, it was military school, but she didn't know that. Mom overacted when she sent him, but she always wins. Since, he only did it to prove to her he could.

Shelly said, giggling a little. "He's kinda cute."

I froze and sent her a look of pure disgust. "What? Ew! No way! Sometimes I don't know why I hang around you. Jeez."

She snorted. "Charls, calm down. I guess because he's your brother..."

I shook my head, walking with her to class. "Luckily for you, you're a only child. And not only that, he's Francis. He's cool, but that's it!"

"Whatever you say, c'mon."

/ / / / / / / / / /

When I got home with Dewey, Malcolm was already at Stevie's. I wonder how that's going to go. Obviously, he's not reckless like us. I really didn't know Stevie. Just that he was off limits for bullying because of the wheelchair and that he talked slow because of a medical condition he had. Dewey was in the kitchen eating chips. I walked over, grabbing them and raising them a little, eating some. "Thanks."

He whined and jumped, but couldn't reach. "Hey! Give those back. I had it first!"

"But I'm hungry!"

I smirked, shoving a couple more in my mouth, before tossing them to him. "Here, twerp."

I heard him cheer as I left the room. "Yay!"

/ / / / / / / / /

It was Saturday and all of us were sitting on the couch, watching T.V. Reese on one side of the couch, Malcolm on the other and me an Dewey in the middle. "Dude, get off!"

Mom was cursing by the washer. "You kids keep this house clean 'till your dad comes home. Two of you will get pizza and two..,we have peas." I didn't reply, knowing that would be a fight later.

The phone rang. Me, Dewey and Reese called."Not it!"

Malcolm sighed and got up to get the phone. "Hello?" A minute later, he grinned. "Francis! Hi."

Me and Reese rushed to the phone, hovering close.

"Hey man, I wrote you guys a really long letter, but they only give me three minutes on this thing so will you put on the special prosecutor."

I snorted out a laugh, that could only be one person. Malcolm yelled out. "Mom, it's Francis!"

I heard Mom click on the phone and we listen quietly.

Mom said. "_Francis, how is school?"_

Francis told her. "_Ah, couldn't be better, mom. My new roommate showed me how to kill mice with a hammer yesterday. So, between that and the general atmosphere of simmering homoerotic, I'm starting to turn around."_

_"Honey, It's only until the summer."_

Francis said. "_Hey, I hate to ask, but can you send my allowance a couple of weeks early."_

Mom then snapped. _Oh my God! I can hear you-you're smoking, aren't you?"_

I gaped with wide eyes. I mouthed. "He's so dead."

Francis sighed. _"mom, I'm not smoking, jeez."_

_"After seeing the anguish your father and I went through to quit, didn't that register with you?"_

It was quiet and I shared a look with my brothers. Mom always won, but what would happen next? Mom sighed. _"I'll talk to your dad, maybe we can sent you part of it. Honey, I have to go, I'm late for work. I'll call you later."_

We put the phone down. I groaned, sitting back down. "I can't believe we have to wait until the summer!"

Reese and Malcolm also groaned. "I know."They both sat back down, though Reese and Malcolm were now next to each other. The doorbell rang and Mom yelled. "Get the door!"

Malcolm snapped at Reese. "You get it, butt wipe."

They started fighting and I leaned back, basically on Dewey. "Guys, knock it off!" i was trying to watch T.V.

Dewey whined. "Charlie, get off!'

I pressed my feet against Reese's back. "Not my fault! These idiots won't stop!"

Reese turned and punched me in the leg. "Your the idiot!"

I snapped. "Ow! You jerk!" I shoved harder against his back. "Take that!"

Mom yelled at us, but we ignored it. We were going to get in trouble anyway. I felt something plastic hit my head. I turned to see Dewey with a bad. "Ow! Dewey, what wrong with you?!"

"Don't sit on me then!"

I sent him a grin. "Sitting on you?"

He gulped. "Charlie..."

My grin widened. I snatched the bat and tossed it on the couch, forcing him on his stomach and sitting on his back.

"Ow! Charlie! Get off!"

A yank on my leg sent me off him and onto my two brothers. I saw it was Malcolm's hand. "Ow! Malcolm!" I smacked him over the back of the head. "Don't pull me in."

Malcolm cried out. "Ack, Reese! Charlie!"

I felt the bat again and the three of us were in a pile, rolling somewhere. I grunted as Reese's elbow was shoved in my stomach. I smacked him hard on the head. "Get...off." I wheezed out.

Reese snapped. "Why you..."

Soon, I felt a hand on the collar of my shirt. It was Mom and her other hand had Reese and Malcolm's. I yelped and she let go of us. "All of you knock it off before your grounded, go! Go, now!"

/ / / / / / / / /

It was dinner and were all eating and quickly at that. I learned early on if I don't, it would get stolen. I snatched what I had and hovered over it, eating. I don't know how, but me, my brothers and Dad finished at the same time. Dad said. "That was great, honey." I got up with them to go finish the math homework I was ignoring all day.

Mom said. "Wait, wait, wait! There something we have to talk about." I froze, looking at my brothers. Reese was also frozen and he shrugged at me. I shrugged back. I don't remember doing that would need the whole family here. We all sat down. Dad said. "I thought we weren't going to talk about Aunt Hellen until after the biopsy."

.I blinked. "What?"

Mom waved a hand. "Not now, Charlie. It's about Malcolm."

I turned toward him. Malcolm raised a hand. "I didn't do it."

Me and Reese nodded at the same time. "Yes, he did." I told Mom.

Reese said. "Yeah, we saw it."

Malcolm sent us a glare and I shrugged at him. At times, it was everybody for themselves in this house.

But Mom said. "A lady from the school came by and ran some tests with Malcolm. He has an IQ of a 165."

Dad asked. "Who?"

"Malcolm! He's a genius. He's going to a special class."

My eyes darted to Malcolm in shock. Special class? 165? I know he was smart, but jeez. Malcolm yelled. "What?"

Dad asked, smiling. "Malcolm's special? Where do you think that came from?"

Mom said. "They have a special class program for gifted children. They have advanced textbooks, devoted teachers and good things they don't want to waste on the normal kids. You start on Monday."

Well, that's nice. I then looked at Reese and he was looking back at me. We realized where she wanted to sent him. Reese asked. "You want to put him in the Krelboyne class?"

Malcolm yelled. "Mom, no! I don't want to!"

Mom asked. "What do you mean? Of course you want to."

"No! I want to stay in my own class, I don't want to be a Krelboyne!"

I nodded in agreement. We all saw what happened to the Krelboyne's around school. Crazy to think that would be Malcolm. Sure, he's smart, but he's not like that. I spoke up, hoping to help a little. "Mom, he's right. They're nerds and losers. I mean, they don't even have a place on the pole."

Reese nodded. "Yeah and they get their butts kicked."

Mom snapped. "Now, just stop one minute, There's nothing wrong with being smart. And there's nothing wrong with being cut from the herd. It makes you the one buffalo that isn't there when the Indians run them off the cliff.

I stared. _What?_

Malcolm yelled. "Mom, this isn't fair. If I don't want to go, why do I have to?"

"It's not just up to you. We have to do what's best for you."

Malcolm begged. "Mon, don't make me go, please!"

Dad raised his hands. "Malcolm, calm down."

He yelled. "But, it's not fair!"

Mom said. "Your right, it isn't fair. It's the first time anyone in this family has been given an edge and you are not gonna waste it."

Malcolm whined. "Dad!"

Mom's stare was intense. "Honey?" I watched the both of them like a tennis match. We all knew who'd win, but he was putting up a good fight. It makes sense with what's at risk.

Dad tried to use the empty ice tea as a excuse and Malcolm ran off. "I want a better family!"

I scoffed to myself. "Krelboyne's."

I went to the living room and jumped on the back of the couch, sitting on one side. Dewey was on the other end and Reese joined me, him sitting in the middle. I had the remote and I flipped a couple channels before Reese took it. I snatched it back. "I had it first."

Reese said. "I'm older!"

The remote was still clutched in my hand. I rolled my eyes. "By one year, snot brain."

Reese flicked me hard in the forehead. "Mine, now."

I shoved him hard, not wanting to give up. Next thing I know, I was in a tight headlock. We were on our knees on our couch. I choked from under his armpit. "When's the last time you showered? Let go!"

"Make me, Charlie!"

I snapped, pulling at his arm. "Ugh, I hate you! Dammit!" Dewey was cheering us on.

I heard Dad say. "Now kids..."

I shoved my elbow into his side hard. "Let go!" He had a hard grip once he got you.

A door opened. "Reese! Charlotte! No fighting! Me and your brother are talking!"

I could finally breathe and we both straightened up. "Yes ma'am!"

Dewey turned on a show with that purple stuffed toy. Me and Reese looked at each other, looking toward our room and decided it wasn't worth it.

/ / / / / / / /

If we didn't share any classes before, we didn't now. The only thing we shared was lunch. As for usual Krelboyne's, everyone moved away from Malcolm as he walked around. His eyes went to mine. I shrugged, show him it was up to him. He walked over to Stevie Kanarban. I guess their hang out went well.

Snarp, the bully threw a carton at him. Malcolm snapped, yelling at him. I was impressed, but knew Malcolm didn't like taking crap. It ended with Snarp hitting Stevie and everyone hating him. I sighed in relief, my hands pressed to the table. I realized I went from sitting to standing. He was _my _little brother. I sat back down. Shelly asked me. "Are you good, Charls?"

I nodded, smiling. "Yeah?"

"You want to go over there?"

I frowned, taking a bite of my apple. "Nah." She took it well about him being a Krelboyne. She's known since the third grade too. Sure, he was a smartass, but he was Malcolm.

She eyed me. "If you're sure..."

I looked over to see him smiling and talking to Stevie. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

/


	2. Red Dress

**The Wilkerson Sister**

**Chapter 2**

**Red Dress**

I grinned a little to myself and heard Mom mopping. I shared a look with my brothers. We made sure we opened the door completely against the wall. Malcolm sat at his desk with homework. Reese was sitting on our dresser with a magazine and I was laying on Malcolm and Dewey's bed with my hands behind my head. Mom was in the doorway. "What did you do?"

We stared at her. Malcolm asked. "What?"

"Don't give me that! What did you do?"

Reese told her. "Nothing."

Malcolm complained. "Mom, I'm trying to study."

I nodded. "Yeah, just relaxing."

She came inside and slammed open a drawer under Reese. "Well, I'm sure you don't mind if I look in here!"

Malcolm said. "Mom, I'm telling you. We didn't do anything."

She looked at all of us. "Oh, you kids are up to something. I can smell it."

She then pushed past the blinds to our window. "If you broke another window, it's going to come out of your-"

It was funny, I don't remember the last time we got an allowance, which is what she was going to say. Reese made a face at Mom looking around the room. I hope she didn't find him, we were just grounded a week ago for forcing Dewey up a tree for a couple hours. Yeah, wasn't our best idea. Reese asked. "Are you done? You gonna frisk me?"

I snorted out a laugh and then wished I didn't. Mom locked onto me and quickly reached under me. I grunted in surprise, arching up. "Hey!"

"Charlie, if you broke another toy-"

I rolled my eyes. That was only...ok, fair. I told her. "I didn't! Come on, Mom!"

She turned to look at us again. "Consider yourselves lucky...this time." She closed the door. I grinned, relaxing my face when she opened the door back up. She then finally left.

Dewey said, his whole body tied up and hook up on the back of the door. "That was a close one."

I grinned again, slapping a high five with Reese. "We one upped Mom!" It's not something that happens often if ever.

Reese grinned back. "Alright." Malcolm was even relieved.

/ / / / / /

I was sitting on the couch, leaning back. I had the remote and I was flipping through the channels. I heard Malcolm scamming Francis on the phone about Mom and Dad's present. I smirked at that, I called over. "Tell him I said 'bye'."

A moment later, he called back. "Francis said 'bye' back!" He hung up and smirked.

I turned more to look at him. "You know if Francis knew, he'd kick your ass."

"You gonna tell him?"

I shrugged, flipping a new channel, only to find it was for make-up, so I changed it again. "I wasn't planning on it."

Malcolm hopped over the back of the couch and sat next to me. "What's on?"

I handed him the remote after a couple more channels. "Nothing."

I laid on the couch, my head on the rest and curved, not touching him. After 5 minutes of flipping the channels, I was getting annoyed at the noise. "Pick something already."

He rolled his eyes at me. "You couldn't find anything either."

I eyed him as he flipped another channel. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius?"

He snapped. "That has nothing to do with it and you know it!"

I snickered. "Do I?" He punched my leg. I sat up. "Ow! Ass!"

I kicked his side and he winced. "Ack, Charlie!"

Before we could tackle each other and start fighting, Dewey and Reese came in with Mom and Dad's present in a box. "Got it!"

We started wrapping it at the table, all of us sitting around the present on the table. Dewey was holding on to the bow. I don't know why, but he wanted to do it. I heard Mom yell for us to hurry up. Malcolm said. "More paper."

Dewey told us. "I get to do the bow."

I handed Malcolm the wrapping paper. Reese asked. "Why did she give you the money for the gift?"

_I didn't really care. _Malcolm said. "She didn't want another karate video and Charlie always buys food."

I scoffed. "Who doesn't like cake?"

Malcolm sent me a look. "You gave them the mix box and icing."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "So." He shoved my arm and I did it back.

Reese said. "It's pronounced Kara-te."

Malcolm stopped shoving me and focused on taping up the gift. I looked over at Mom's room. Don't want to make her mad.

"I get to do the bow."

Reese asked. "What did you get them anyway?"

I was curious too. Malcolm replied. "A picture frame."

Reese rolled his eyes. "Brown noser."

I shook my head. "Sounds like a fail safe. They can't hate it without sounding like jerks."

Malcolm nodded in agreement. "Exactly."

"I get to do the bow!"

I sighed, that was getting really annoying Malcolm snapped. "We're not finished yet!"

"But I get to do the bow!"

I smacked him over the head. "Knock it off!"

"Ow! I'm telling Mom!"

I snorted. "When's she's getting ready? She's kill you. You know how much she wants to go. "

He glared, looking to be thinking if he should or not. Then, Reese snatched the bow from Dewey, slapping it on the present. Dewey turned from me. "No! I wanted to do the bow!"

Reese shrugged. "You should of said something."

I sent my older brother a look. " Really?" I mean, yeah, I was getting into it with Dewey, but that's because he was being annoying. Reese did it for no reason, but that's Reece.

But Reese just smirked, shrugging at me. Dewey seemed to make up his mind. "I'm telling Mom on you two!" He ran off.

I stood up with a glare. "You little..."

He came back, scared. "No!"

I frowned. "Wha-"

Mom came in the room, more angry that I've ever seen. I froze at the red charred cloth clutched in her fist."Fire?! Fire?!" Dewey hid behind us and I didn't blame him, I wanted to join him at her look.

Malcolm said. "Mom-"

"This is the most stupid, irresponsible, most dangerous think you have ever done!" We flinched back. _Oh yeah, she beyond mad! _Mom went on. "Is that what you want? Where we have to identify your charred bodies from your dental records!?"

_Okay, this was too much. _I tried. "But, Mom-"

"Quiet missy!" My mouth snapped shut quickly. Mom yelled. "I want a straight answer. Who did this?"

I really had no idea, there was only one way. I blamed. "Reese did it!"

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, he did."

Reese snapped. "No, I didn't. Malcolm and Charlie did!"

Me and Malcolm yelled. "No, I didn't!"

Mom stopped us. "Let's go! To your rooms!"

Dewey ran inside, Mom pushing the rest of us in. We stumbled, keeping the distance and standing in line. She had a garbage bag and took one of Reese's small airplanes off the ceiling. "Who?"

Quickly, I pointed at both of them. I glared at them when I realized they did the same thing. She threw the plane out. Reese shrugged. "I didn't like that one anyway."

I nudged him hard in the side. I hissed. "Dude, shut up!"

She grabbed the bigger one off the ceiling that I knew Reese liked. "No! No! Not that one!" She dumped it.

I grumbled. "That's why you shut up."

Reese shoved me. I'll make you-"

"ENOUGH! T.V ROOM!"

I jumped away from going to hit Reese, both of us running out of there.

/ / / / / / / / /

She had the four of us spinning with our heads on bats and it was making me sick. Suddenly, she snapped. "Who?"

I really didn't know, it had to be one of them. Me, Malcolm and Reese were blaming each other. Reese or Malcolm? Mom pointed and shouted. "Into the hallway!"

Malcolm groaned as we dropped the bats. "I feel like I'm gonna puke!"

I also groaned. "I second that."

Mom snapped. "Well, that's going to the highlight of your evening. Because no one is going anywhere until someone tells me who."

Mom made us huddle in a corner way too close. Dewey inside, me behind him with Malcolm and Reese crushed too close behind me, pressing me to the wall. Then we heard. "Who?"

We all shouted over each other. I snapped at them. "Just admit it already!"

Malcolm snapped back at me. "How about you admit it!?"

Mom ordered. "Closer to the wall!"

Malcolm complained. "It stinks over here!"

Now that he mentioned it, it does. Dewey whined. "I can't help it!"

I wrinkled my nose. "Seriously Dewey?"

"Okay, into the T.V room."

I yelped as I felt a hand yank on my shirt collar and saw Reese and Malcolm dealing with the same thing in her other hand. I still didn't get how she could do that to the three of us at the same time.

She made all four of us stick half our bodies under the couch. It was completely dirty. I made a noise of disgust. "When was the last time she cleaned under here? She's slacking."

Malcolm retorted. "Go tell her that."

Reese said before I could say something back. "I'll give anyone five dollars if you tell Mom you did it."

Malcolm said. "Whoever it was, tell her, 'cause I didn't do it."

I said. "Well, it wasn't me."

I looked over at Reese, who snapped at Dewey. "What are you eating?"

He said, his mouth full of something. "Nothing."

I gave him a strange look. "Dude, the 5 second rule doesn't cover that."

Malcolm talked over us. "Will you guys shut up so I can think of something!"

Reese told him. "There's nothing to think of. Nothing we can do. I never seen Mom so mad."

I grumbled, shifting away from some type of food and dust bunnies. "What not, Krelboyne?"

Malcolm snapped at me. "Shut up, Charlie! You're not helping! Have you seen her this mad?" Hus annoyed look was gone and he grinned. "I have a idea!"

We all looked at Malcolm. "What is it?"

/ / / / / / / / / /

I was close to Malcolm so I could listen to Francis on the phone. He said. "She has you where?"

Malcolm grumbled. "Under the couch. Because Reese or Charlie won't admit they did it."

I snatched the phone from Malcolm. "Dude, I didn't do it. Tell them to admit it."

They both shoved me. "You did it!"

Francis said, before I could fight back. "Woah, woah. Chill, your not going to get anywhere fighting with each other. Now, first of all, you all burned the dress."

I was annoyed. "Francis, I-"

Francis said sternly, a tone he rarely used. "You all did it. You have to stay together. You have to say united." Francis paused for a moment. "No one broke so far so you should be proud of yourselves. Did she do the toy thing? The spinning?" Malcolm told him we did, close to the phone.

Francis said. "Good, I know where she's going. Separate interviews, Listen, when she gets you alone, she's gonna pretend she's on your side. She's not."

I nodded. "Okay."

Francis said. "But, wait Charlie."

I asked. "Yeah?"

"She's gonna be tougher on you because your a girl, try to trick you."

I gulped loudly, but said at the looks I was getting. "I can handle it."

/ / / / / / / / / / /

I sat across from Mom. She already talked to Reese and Malcolm. I have no idea if they backed out. Mom smiled, handing me a orange soda that had the name brand. "Charlie...my only girl. Those boys are always getting into trouble."

I nodded, even if me and Mom both knew I got in as much trouble as they did. I was not what Mom expected when she got a girl. "Yeah..."

"And you've always been the best one, sweetie. So, just tell me which one of your brothers did it. Your my good girl, I know you wouldn't."

I felt myself squirm a little at her intense stare. I toughened myself and shrugged at her. "I have no idea."

She stared at me and I forced myself to keep my mouth shut, even if I didn't know who it was. _Don't break. Don't break. Don't break._

She stood up, huffing and pulling me by my shirt out of the chair and pushing me toward the T.V room. "Fine! Get Dewey and stay there!"

/ / / / / /

When she was talking to Dewey, Malcolm and Reese crowded me. Malcolm asked. "You say anything?"

I shook my head, sitting on the couch. "What about you?" I looked at both of them. They both shook their heads. I said. "Now we just have to count on Dewey."

I threw my head backward and we all groaned.

"Kids! Get in here!"

We ran into the kitchen and stood in a line. Me in the middle of the Reese and Malcolm and Dewey next to Malcolm. Mom paced in front of us. "Well, I guess you kids think you have your mom over a barrel, huh? Well, we'll just see about that. If you kids want to play, we can play all night long."

She made us go back to our room and slammed the door. I asked. "What's she going to do now?"

Me, Reese and Malcolm sent each other looks. Dewey just sat on his bed, hopping on it. Reese said. "I don't know." Malcolm shrugged, looking at the door.

I heard Mom outside the room and then something clicked on. "'Nice is good, mean is bad, don't be mean because mean is bad. Nice is better than mean'."

My eyes bulged in horror. "What!? Oh no!"

Reese slapped his hands over his ears. "Oh, man!"

It was one of Dewey's songs. Once it ended, it began again. I groaned. I called to Malcolm. "We need help! Call Francis!"

I pressed my own hands to my ears, but it only made it a little quieter. Malcolm said loudly. "It's Mom, she's killing us!"

I whined a bit. "Got that right."

I saw Reese also whine and cover himself with a bunch of pillows. I jumped on my bed, curling up with my hands still covering my ears. "Make it stop!" I didn't seem bad, but it was loud, annoying and for babies. I think it even got louder.

Dewey cried out. "Why does she have to ruin everything I love!?"

Malcolm said loudly. "Francis! I'm just going to tell her I did it!"

I jerked my head up, moving my hands. "Yeah, take one for the team." I slapped my hands back over my ears.

Malcolm sent me a pointed look. "I didn't do it, but anything's better than this!" A minute later he put the phone down. I moved my hands from my ears. He said. "Ok, this is what we gotta do." He explained the plan.

Reese wrinkled his nose. "Really?"

I got off the bed. "Let's do it."

We all held hands, spinning in a circle and singing the song, even with how annoying it is.

Mom came in the room and saw us. Reese yelled when she left. "Did you see that?!"

Dewey yelled. "Hooray!"

I cried out. "It worked."

Malcolm told us. "Yes, Francis is a genius." Sounded weird coming from the family genius. But he was right, I knew Francis could do it.

"Aw, this is so cute. Your grandmother and all your friends are going to love this at your next birthday party."

I yanked my hands from Reese and Dewey, staring at the camera. I felt myself get hot staring at it. Dewey then faked a stomach cramp to get rid of Mom. I sighed in relief. A little while later, Malcolm said. "I'm going to check." He stuck his head out the door. We crowded behind him.

Reese whispered. "What's she doing?"

Malcolm whispered back. "I can't tell."

I asked. "Where do you think she went?" Knowing Mom, she didn't give up that easy, since she also had the upper hand.

Reese shrugged. "She could have left."

Malcolm scoffed. "Yeah, I sure she went out to buy presents."

Dewey called out. "Hooray!"

I snorted. "Please, I don't see presents until next Christmas." Dewey's face fell.

Reese said. "It's just too quiet out there, it's driving me crazy."

Dewey asked. "Maybe, we should sing some more."

Me and Reese told him. "Shut up, Dewey." That's all we needed, to listen to that dumb song. I laid on my bed with my arms behind my head and closed my eyes.

Reese said as it was quiet. "I wonder how many wholes are in the tiles?"

My eyes were still closed. "I dunno."

"160, 480."

My eyes snapped open and I looked over at Malcolm. Reese asked. "You counted all of those?"

Malcolm shook his head. "No. You just count the tiles up and down. Multiply it and then multiply it by the number of tiles."

I was speechless. I swear, in times like these, Malcolm made me feel dumb. "Uh...okay."

Reese told him. "Your doing that more and more."

Malcolm looked at him. "Doing what?"

"That brain thing. Are you going to keep on getting smarter and weirder?"

Malcolm said. "I don't know."

Reese said. "Well, can you tone it down a little? Because I can't keep up with all the butt kickings."

I agree. I remember hearing about the butt kickings Reese gives. And I don't know how many times I almost beat the snot out of some kid bad mouthing Malcolm because he was a Krelboyne. Jeez, just leave him alone and let him be smart.

Malcolm sat up. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, at least twice a day I have to whoop ass on some kid calling you a weirdo. Honestly, it's exhausting."

Malcolm looked surprised. "You beat up people because they call me a weirdo?"

Reese shrugged it off. "The last kid was a freak anyway, he was in no position to throw out names."

Malcolm glanced at me and I nodded. "Trust me, most of them are so dumb they pissed me off." I wasn't going to let some idiots talk bad about my little brother.

Malcolm smiled. "Thanks."

I flushed red, laying back on my bed. I muttered. "It's nothing." We don't talk about this stuff.

Reese asked. "For what?"

Malcolm shook his head. Like I said, Malcolm knows better than to explain it. Reese would get annoyed and sock him one. Reese suddenly said. "Hey, what am I thinking right now?"

I snickered. "Can you even do that, Reese?"

A pillow was thrown at my face. "Shut up, Moron."

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "I'm smart, not physic."

Dewey then asked. "Can you understand what dogs are saying?"

"No."

Dewey smiled. "I can."

I didn't even want to know. I then heard a voice. "Kids..."

I jolted out of bed. "Mom!"

We went into the T.V room to see Mom laying a blue tarp on the floor in the middle of it. She was putting on yellow gloves. "I don't know who put you up to this sticking together garbage, but I don't like it. Therefore, you have forced me to do something terrible. Say goodbye to a cherished family member." I stared as a hammer was held in her hand. She raised it. "Who?"

I paled, gulping with wide eyes. Who knows when we'd get a new one. It was the only thing that helped with being bored. We all yelled in horror. "No!"

Mom snapped. "Don't you dare!" When we moved foreward. Then the door bell rang. "Don't you move!"

While she talked to whoever was at the door, we ran to the t.v and grabbed a part of it. We lifted it and moved it, someone she wouldn't find it. We ran back and we were breathing really heavy. Mom was furious. "To your room!"

We ran quickly to the room and shut the door. We went to the phone on Malcolm and Dewey's bed and I took it. I said panicked. "Francis! Mom tried to destroy the t.v.!"

Francis shouted in the phone. "What?!" Malcolm, Reese and Dewey shouted in the phone.

I nodded, even if he couldn't see me. "Uh-huh, but we saved it once someone was at the door."

I heard Francis call out. "They saved the t.v.!"

I think I heard cheering. "Francis, who's there?"

He laughed a little. "Don't worry about it, dork. Now, listen, beautiful work. You have here right where you want her. Now, it's time to take the offensive."

Malcolm asked, he was close enough so he could hear Francis. "Offensive."

Francis said. "Exactly. She won't-did you hear breathing?"

I clutched the phone tighter in my hand. "W-what?"

Francis then asked. "Mom?"

"Charlie. Hang up the phone, please." I squeaked, throwing the phone across the room. It made Reese and Dewey jump.

Malcolm heard. He said. "Not good, not good !"

I said loudly. "Mom!"

Malcolm continued. "Phone!"

Dewey screamed. "We're gonna die!" He dived under the bed. Malcolm ran toward the window. I stared at the door, expecting Mom to come storming in at any second. "We're so dead!"

Reese grabbed Malcolm. "Wait, there's a way out of this. You have to use that brain of yours, think."

I looked at him hopefully. "Ow! Okay, I got it!"

Malcolm told us his plan. I grabbed the duct tape under my bed, from when I used it before and taped our pillows to us.

Malcolm let out a breath. "I think so."

Dewey was hanging from the ceiling. Reese and Malcolm were doing something which had Reese on the floor and Dewey fell, landing on the floor too. I lowered the baseball bat, where a hole was in the wall by Reese's bed. The plan was for her to forget about the dress and to worry about the new thing we did. Looking at her now, I don't think this was a good idea.

Mom looked over the room and sighed. "Alright, that's it. Get dressed, we're going to dinner."

Reese demanded. "What?"

I froze. _Did it actually work?_

"Dinner. Don't want you kids starving to death. Last thing I need is social workers and reporters running up the front lawn. Hurry up before I change my mind."

Reese asked. "What about the dress?"

I hissed, shoving his shoulder. "Will you shut up, Reese!"

Mom kind of smiled. "I really liked that dress." She then walked out of the room.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "That was-ow! Reese!" He punched me hard in the stomach. I groaned, holding my stomach and sinking to my knees. "Ow! What's that for!?"

"Hitting me and telling to shut up when I couldn't do anything about it!"

He went to get dressed. Malcolm helped pull me up. I rubbed my stomach, him hitting us wasn't new, but it still hurt when it came from nowhere.

Malcolm chuckled. "It was coming."

I thought he forget. I rubbed my stomach, grumbling to myself and getting my clothes to get dressed.


	3. Home Alone 5

**The Wilkerson Girl **

**Chapter 3**

**Home Alone 5**

We all sat around the dinner table, eating slower than usual since we were talking. Reese just finished telling the story about a fight he had yesterday. Before that, I told a story of this girly girl who tripped and fell into a huge mud puddle and freaked out.

Dewey was saying something next. "And then there was this big explosion and lots of bubbles. That's where babies come from."

I snorted, laughing. Everyone else at the table laughed with me. Apparently, a girl in Dewey's class told him that. Mom smiled. "Close enough."

Dad grinned. "Hey, look at this. I made a pea angel." I was sitting between Reese and Dad so I saw it. I grinned to. Our dinners were rarely this calm. Reese once shoved a whole thing of mashed potatoes and carrots down the back of my shirt because of some argument I don't remember.

Mom chuckled. "Oh, you're a pea angel. Stop playing with your food." Mom grinned, showing the food she stuck in her teeth. I snorted again, she looked like a hillbilly. Reese then held up a spoon filled with mashed potatoes at Mom. My eyes froze in shock. _Reese!_ Reese said in a teasing way. "Oh, Mom.."

"Hm?" Mom looked over and her eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare."

Reese smiled. "Relax. I wasn't really going to."

Is he an idiot? How does he not sense the danger he caused? I frowned at the both of them as Mom said, staring him down. "Then don't."

"I wasn't going to."

"Then don't."

"Well, then don't accuse me of something I wasn't going to do!"

I was frozen and still as the rest of us. My eyes were darting between Mom and Reese. Dewey asked. "You were going to throw that at Mom?"

Reese snapped. "I wasn't going to!" He kept on repeating himself, but it was going nowhere.

Dad rolled his eyes. "Jeez Louise, Reese."

Mom stopped Dad before he could say anything else. "Hal, I got this."

I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to be pulled into it when it had nothing to do with me. Mom stopped looking at Dad and switched her stern look to Reese. "Reese, I'm warning you."

Reese snapped again. "I wasn't going to!" My older brother was getting mad, I could recognize it anywhere, when any of my brothers were getting pissed off. I rolled my eyes, this was still going nowhere. Mom wasn't backing down and neither was Reese. Reese then said. "But if think I would, maybe I should!"

I almost rolled my eyes again. Awesome, he's freaking out. He doesn't know what to do. Mom said calmly. "Just put the spoon down and apologize."

My shoulders slumped in relief. Now all he has to do is say 'sorry' and this will stop.

Reese held up his hand. "Apologize for what?! I wasn't going to do anything! Stop talking and let me think!"

_Okay, this had to stop right now! _I looked over at Dad to see Malcolm tell him. "Dad, do something."

I nodded in agreement. "Stop this before it gets worse." Where we all get grounded. Dad included.

Dad nodded at us. "I got it."

I jumped back to see that Mom got hit with mashed potatoes and peas. Dad looked shocked at what he did. All of us were. Mom wiped her face off. "What do you think you're doing?"

I looked back at Dad. He said slowly. "I'm being cute...and spontaneous…"

I looked back toward Mom. How she reacted would shape up the whole night. Mom slowly laughed. A awkward laugh came from me. I gave Dewey and Malcolm panicked looks. We all laughed until Mom stopped laughing. Mom then stared at Reese again. "Don't do it!" I smacked a hand to my forehead. Reese still had the spoon in the air!

Reese snapped back. "I wasn't going to!"

I groaned, shoving an elbow into his side hard and snatching the spoon, tossing it on the table. "There, done!" I could hear the breaths of relief from Dad and Malcolm. That would've started everything all over again.

Mom sent me a look. "Charlie." None of would've gave in and Mom would've snapped after a while. She has to be right. I was doing Reese and the rest of us a favor.

But by pushing me out of my chair, he didn't think about that. I glared up at him, leaning back on my hands. "Fine." I kicked the chair leg, making him fall on his face. I laughed at him.

Reese jumped on me. "You little..."

As Mom yanked us apart, I realized our peaceful dinner went to semi-peaceful. Actually fighting with make it unpeaceful.

/ / / / / / /

"Then I drew a robot, but my crayon broke. And then I had a Popsicle. I mean, I had 12 Popsicles. You like Popsicles, Francis?"

I groaned, shoving my face into the middle of my arm. "Too early."

Reese snapped at Dewey. "Shut up, Dewey! Stop bugging Francis!" He turned toward Francis, who was drinking from the carton. "I'm so glad your home. You don't know what it's like dealing with these little kids all day."

I knew he was talking about Dewey. I yawned. It was the weekend. Since, Mom and Dad were going away from a wedding, Francis was watching us as he was back from military school. They made us all get us, even if it was the weekend. I looked up, finally awake enough to be hungry. I grabbed a bowl off the table and poured cereal in. "Milk?" Francis pushed it toward me. I poured it in and took a gulp, before setting it down.

Dewey said before I could start eating. "Your not supposed to do that."

I glared tiredly at him. "Keep your mouth shut and I won't beat you up." I was too tired to deal with him.

Malcolm came in with his bowl, nodding at Francis. "Hey." I smirked, Malcolm was trying to be cool. I ate at a slower than normal pace, which was normal for most people. I saw Francis this morning when I woke up. Reese and Francis were sharing a bed to make for room.

Mom called out. "Kids! The number for the hotel is on the counter! I left money for pizza, but I want a receipt and exact change."

I sighed. "Well, there goes that."

Francis shrugged at me, eating some cereal. It really was cool having Francis back. I was just too tired. Malcolm disappeared somewhere in the house. Me and Reese shared a look of excitement. Who knew what cool thing Francis would come up with.

Dewey was talking again. "And then it got away, but I found another one, but it died. And then..."

I watched, bored as Reese jumped up and grabbed Dewey's shoulder. I was happy about that. Dewey was really starting to get on my nerves. Reese said. "I said leave him alone, butt-munch."

Dewey whined. "Let me go!"

Reese said back. "Make me!"

I shook my head. "So immature." Reese and Dewey were so busy arguing that they didn't hear me.

Francis sent me a raised eyebrow, still looking half asleep. "Didn't Malcolm say you and Reese fought over a pop-tart last week?"

I rolled my eyes at that. "It was the last one." He snorted, messing up my hair and going into our room. I shook my head again. Francis still treated us like we were little kids. I was twelve. Plus, Francis fought with us (and won) over the same reasons before. While, me and Francis were talking, Dewey and Reese were getting louder. I looked over to see Dewey on Reese's back, trying to shove his fingers in Reese's nose. I sat down, knowing Dewey will bite Reese or our older brother will beat him up.

Malcolm came running in, looking panicked. "Guys. Stop!"

I gave him a look. "Jeez, calm down Malcolm. What's the big deal?" We fought like this like four times a day and that's slow.

Malcolm said. "Listen for a second. I just heard Mom and Dad. They're thinking about letting Francis come home." I froze in shock, before helping to pull Dewey off of Reese's back.

I couldn't help, but give Malcolm a hopeful look. "Really?"

Reese asked, as surprised as I was. "You serious?"

Malcolm looked back toward the hall. "Yeah, they want to see how he does with us this weekend. Okay? So, we can't screw up."

I brightened up. "That's awesome! If Francis could stay here..." I grinned, think about how great it would be to have our older brother back home, we cared and missed him a lot. Not that we'd tell him that.

Reese grinned with me. "Cool. Let's go tell him-"

Malcolm stopped him with a hand on his chest and I grabbed his shoulder just in case. Me and Malcolm shared a look. We knew why we couldn't tell him. Malcolm said. "No. You know how Francis gets when people tell him what to do."

I made a face. "That's not counting why he was sent to military school." Mom snapped when he pierced his nose, but growing up with him, he didn't listen to anyone when they ordered him around. It didn't matter if it was teachers, Dad or Mom.

Reese nodded, knowing the same thing. "Right. What are we going to do?" I was thinking the same thing.

Malcolm told us. "We're going to be good, that's what."

Dewey asked I stared at Malcolm. "How do we be good?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure we never are and especially not with Francis here." With as bad as we get, I know we don't behave.

Malcolm looked lost. "I don't know. We're gonna have to with Francis here. Look, we're just not going to do anything. That way we can't get into any trouble."

I snorted. "Well, that's boring." _That actually sounds worse than school. _

Malcolm was sending me an annoyed look. "You want Francis to stay or not?"

I sighed, knowing we didn't have choice. "Fine."

Dad called out. "Honey? We're late, we better hit the road!"

Mom and Dad came into the kitchen along with Francis. Mom sighed. "Fine. I'll shave my legs in the car."

I made a face. _Ew! _

Mom faced us, her stern face on. "Okay, I marked all the liquor bottles and we can taste when they are all watered down. I locked out the smut channel on the t.v and counted your father's cigars."

Dad was heading toward the door. "Come on, dear. Time to go."

Mom waved a hand toward the door. "Come on. All of you!" We were forced to follow her outside. When she was in the car, she continued to lecture. "I checked the odometer on the car and I know the exact balance of all our credit cards. We love you and have a good time. And just remember, Dewey will tell us everything you did while we were gone." I stopped myself from glaring at Dewey. _Snitch._

Dad cut in, trying to be stern. "Uh, what your mother said, kids. Minus one."

They drove off, but then they came back. Mom said. "Don't even think about." They drove off again.

Francis said. "She's bluffing." I look up at him, curious and then remembered we had to stay out of trouble. We followed Francis back into the house. "Okay, I'm going to show you guys the coolest thing you ever seen. Get me some lighter fluid, a waffle iron and one of Dewey's stuffed animals. The fluffier the better."

My mouth pulled into a wide grin, before I remembered again the 'behaving' plan. Malcolm said. "Actually, we're kind of tired." I stopped myself from staring at him, that was a bad excuse.

Francis smirked in disbelief. "Tired?" 

Reese said awkwardly. "Yeah. Tired."

I yawned for good measure. "It's early. Sleepy."

Dewey said. "I'm not tired." My eyes widened and Malcolm elbowed him. Dewey said quickly. "Okay, yeah. I'm tired."

Reese said. "Let's just go watch t.v."

I nodded quickly. "Sounds like a good idea." We have to make sure Francis wasn't suspisious or he'd make us tell him.

Francis was sending us weird looks. "Whatever." Me, Malcolm and Reese sat on the couch. Francis was in the armchair and Dewey sat on the floor. We were watching golf because it was the most boring thing we ever heard of and Dad talks about his college days a lot.

I rolled my head back. Francis groaned. "Oh, come on guys. Let's go outside. Let's do something!"

My head snapped up in alarm and Malcolm shouted. "No! We're only on the sixth hole." I bit back my groan. Weren't there 18 of them? That's not even half! We picked boring because we could get ideas even from t.v. I don't even know all the times we were bored and got in trouble from doing something we saw on t.v.

The phone rang and Francis picked it up fast. "Hello?" Francis grinned. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

I stared. "Who's that?"

Francis held up a hand. "Hold on. No, not you, man."

I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. Wanting him to stay or not, older brothers are annoying. Francis told us after listening to whoever was on the phone. "Richie and the guys are coming over."

Malcolm panicked. "Maybe they shouldn't. Mom and Dad are gone."

Francis raised a finger, stopping him. "Okay, got it. Hey, Richie. Listen to me, I'm watching my brothers and sister so we got to hang here. And no parties, okay? I'm serious. It's got to be just the three of you."

/ / / / / / / /

I was completely shocked a couple hours later when the cops picked up Francis' friends.

They came in, playing loud rock music (they had to be drunk), dumped our couch outside along with a lot of our stuff in the front of the house too. We tried to stop them (all of us except for Francis), but was just pushed aside.

Actually, I was hung upside down by Circus and Richie. "Hey, Francis' little sis!"

I growled, getting mad. "Let me go!"

Richie shook me and Circle copied him. Richie laughed. "No chance!"

I squirmed in the air, but had no chance of moving or getting loose. I was used to Francis doing this, Reese and Malcolm can't. I was getting dizzy. "C'mon! I'm gonna kick-"

"Hey Rich! Let her go." I heard Francis laugh, but grabbed me around my stomach and setting me on my feet. I shook my head hard to clear it. I glared at them. But they ran off to destroy something else. Malcolm came over, looking panicked at the house and very amused at me. I scowled, wanting to tackle him.

Francis laughed again, patting me and Malcolm on the back. "Chill out guys, it's cool."

I snapped. "They held me upside down!"

He snorted. "Like I haven't before. Have fun before our parents get back." He wondered away to another part of the house.

I shared a look with Malcolm. "We lost.

"Not yet!" Malcolm stormed away.

While we were watching them leave in the cop car, Francis said. "Who knew three guys could do so much damage."

We followed Francis back inside. Reese spit something out. "I hate those guys!" Reese was tied to a chair with duck tape. I smirked, remembering when they did that. Any other time, I would've laughed at him. Dewey was armored with teady bears and a bucket as a helmet.

Francis told us. "Did you see Circus break that cinder block with his head? That's a good lesson for you guys. It didn't break the first six times. But, did he quit trying? No, sir."

I scoffed, still annoyed at Richie and Circus. "That's because Circus is a brain dead idiot."

I hissed as he punched my arm. "Ow! Francis!" He hit harder than Reese does. Ten times harder.

Francis pointed a finger at me jokingly. "I'm trying to teach a lesson."

I glared at him, rubbing my hurting arm._ Ow!_

Francis walked into the kitchen. Malcolm shouted. "Francis! We have to clean this up!"

Francis laughed. "Sure."

Malcolm followed him. "No, I mean now. If Mom and Dad see this, they'll freak."

Francis asked. "What else is new? I'm used to it."

Reese shouted too. "This is different. We have to clean up."

I agreed. "Come on, Francis. It's gonna take a while." The whole house is trashed, we had Christmas lights and a chair hanging from the ceiling.

Francis was staring at us. "Okay, what's with you guys? I'm in charge here. I'm the only one who's gonna get in trouble, just relax."

Dewey finally said. "But we want you to come home."

Francis turned back to us. "What?"

Malcolm blurted out. "I heard Mom and Dad talking. This weekend is like a test for you or a trap. If you do good, they may let you come home."

Reese finished. "And if you don't-"

I interrupted him. "They're gonna send you back to military school."_ And who knows when you'll come back._

Francis raised his hands. "Okay, look..."

Malcolm snapped, getting mad. "Francis! It sucks here without you! Can't you just try for our sake!?"

Francis smiled at us. "Look, I appreciate your sediment. But there not going to decide my whole future based on how I act on one weekend without telling me about it. It's too arbitrary. It's too unreasonable." 

I sent him a dead look. "You've been gone too long."

Malcolm yelled. "It's Mom!"

Francis face changed in that moment. "Okay, let's clean up." We ran off and I helped Malcolm clean the food away while Dewey and Reese cleaned up the walls. After that, me, Malcolm and Francis helped bright stuff back inside.

A hour or so later, I was picking up stuff from outside (trash) with Malcolm. I heard a vacuum from inside the house. I asked Malcolm. "We have a vacuum?"

Malcolm shrugged. "I guess." We went back inside to see the house clean. And I mean really clean.

I gaped. "Woah!" In all the twelve years I've been alive, it's never been this clean.

Francis grinned, looking around. "It's perfect."

Reese said, just as surprised. "The house has never been clean."

Malcolm said. "Uh-oh." I frowned, worried. If Malcolm saw a problem…

Francis looked over. "What?"

Malcolm said. "It's _too _clean."

Francis froze and I did the same thing. Francis said. "You're right. They'll never buy it."

I told them. "And Mom will be suspicious if she finds out we cleaned up." We ran around again, but this time to make a mess. Dewey and Reese made a mess of the walls. Francis dumped a bored game on the kitchen table and Malcolm messed up the kitchen. I dumped dust from the vacuum on the carpet, making it very dirty. Also, I threw some of Dewey's toys on the floor.

Francis said when he finished. "Nice touch with the bread crumbs, Dewey." I looked over to see Dewey eating, but I shrugged it off. No use getting annoyed.

Reese came in the T.V. room and said. "I clipped my toenails on the coffee table." I made a face, Reese threw his toenails everywhere. As long as it wasn't on me or my bed, I didn't care.

Francis said. "Atta boy, she won't notice a thing."

I finished what I was doing. "There's a huge juice stain that wasn't there before."

Francis grinned at me. "Good work, kid."

Malcolm said. "Wait!" He put broken chips on the shelves with our pictures. "Ta-da!"

I slapped my hands together. "All done!"

Suddenly, a shelf came down, hitting Malcolm on the head. He fell to the ground. "Ow!"

I jumped in shock. "Shit! Malcolm!" I just stared, I couldn't move.

Malcolm jumped back up, his hands covering his head. "Ow! Ow!"

Francis ran over to him, worried. "Malcolm, are you okay?"

I looked over at Francis in disbelief. _What kind of question is that?!_

Malcolm said. "I think so. Ow! Ow!" He jumped up and down.

Francis pulled him toward the kitchen. "Hold still. Let me see it."

I moved toward them, trying to above or below his hand. I bit my lip. "We get hurt all the time."

Malcolm said. "I know. How does it look?" He took his hand off and I flinched back in shock at the gash and blood on his forehead. _That was deep!_

Francis hesitated. "Not...too bad."

Dewey whimpered. "Put his face back on!"

Reese cried out. "What's the white stuff, is that bone?"

Malcolm yelled, his voice getting higher. "What?!" He looked around a little. "Charlie! Stop looking at me like that!"

I realized I was looking horrified. "Sorry."

Francis said. "Reese get ice. Charlie, get paper towels. Sit down, we have to put pressure on it."

I ran with Reese further into the kitchen as Francis sat Malcolm in a kitchen chair. I heard Malcolm's 'ow' as Francis said. "I'm sorry. I have to put pressure on it." I yanked the paper towels off the roll and I heard Reese open the freezer. Francis called. "Reese! Hurry up, get the ice!"

I looked over to see Reese with a package of chicken. "We don't have any ice."

Francis took it and put it on Malcolm's head. "Fine. Give me some antiseptic."

I handed Francis the paper towels. "Do we have any? I think we used the last of it."

Francis sent me a panicked look. "Are you kidding me?" Before I could say anything, the phone rang. Francis called out. "Don't answer that. Let the machine-"

"Hello?...Hi Mom."

I choked in horror. "That brat..."

Dewey was looking at Francis. "He's..." Francis waved his hands. Dewey said. "...in the bathroom." It was quiet for a moment and then Dewey said. "He's...in the bathroom."

Is Mom talking about Reese and Malcolm? Dewey then said. "I have to go to the bathroom." He hung up and I groaned, that's not suspicious at all.

Francis said. "We have to get you stitches. Let's go to the hospital." He's right, that looks really bad.

Malcolm cried out. "No, you can't. Mom and Dad will find out."

I sighed, torn between the two. They couldn't find out, but Malcolm needed to go to the hospital. "Malcolm, right now we got a worse problem." _Will he bleed out?_

Francis walked back toward Malcolm, saying sternly (a tone he rarely used). "Charlie is right. Malcolm, this is a head injury. You could have a concussion."

Malcolm shouted. "No! I don't care! I'm not going to the hospital. Do you hear me? There's no way I-"

He froze at the mirror Reese showed him. During his rant, I was sending Reese a look to 'do something'. Malcolm said quickly. "Get the car."

Francis said. "Charlie! Towel" I ran off, finding a semi-clean white towel and going back to my brothers. Francis wrapped it around Malcolm's head so you couldn't see any of it, tightening it with a belt. "Come on, to the car."

Malcolm said a couple more 'ow', but we got outside. Francis and Reese steered him by the arms. "I can't see anything."

Reese scoffed as we all went to the car. "Do you want to get blood all over the car?"

Malcolm shouted. "Wait! We can't take the car! They'll know. Mom checked the odometer."

I snapped. "How else do you expect us to get there, idiot? By walking?"

Francis grunted as they got him in before he could come back with anything else. I hovered awkwardly. Francis said. "I'm on top of it."

We all got in the car and I was awed as Francis drove completely backwards. Dewey waved at his school when we passed it. Reese grinned. "Malcolm, you should see this. Francis is kicking ass!"

I also grinned, looking out the window. "This is awesome!" I almost forgot about Malcolm's injury.

Francis grumbled. "I hate this 80's crap. Oh, great! A one way street. How does that work if I'm going backwards?"

I stared at him in shock. "I don't know! You're sixteen!"

Francis said back. "Not to drive backwards!"

/ / / / / / /

We all ran with Francis into the ER. A place we've been to many times. Francis was pulling Malcolm. The heavy black nurse who usually saw us rolled her eyes, especially when she saw Malcolm. I think her name was Laverne or something like that. I guess it's bad when your on first name basis with the head nurse. Laverne said. "Oh for God's sake, you kids again? And a head injury. You kids like to keep it interesting, don't you?"

I scratched the back of my neck as I remembered a lot of times we came in here. I broke my leg , jumping off a huge hill and doing a stunt. Fighting with Reese and breaking my hand on a door. Reese breaking his arm while doing something stupid. Malcolm cutting his face with a scissor after Reese spooked him. Dewey opening his mouth on a tired. Reese throwing a knife and winded up stabbing me in the arm (I still had the scar). Even Francis was here in the past for things. That doesn't even make up for half the times we've been here.

Francis was with Malcolm, who was getting stitched up. Since, he was going to be okay, I sat by the front desk. Trying to think of a way where Mom and Dad wouldn't find out.

"What are you up to?" 

I looked up at Laverne and grinned innocently. "Who? Me?"

Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "Young lady, do not try to play me for a fool. How did this even happen?"

I snorted. "Do you really want to know?"

Laverne sighed. "This better be the last time we see you."

I snickered. "I doubt it." I stared in confusion at the front of the hospital doors. "Miss Caroline?"

She came forward quickly toward me. "Charlotte! I heard your brother, Malcolm was hurt." I made a face, I was only really called that when I was in trouble. _Why is she here?_

Laverne sighed. "I'll take you to him." I followed them into the room Malcolm was being stitched up in. Reese, Dewey and Francis were in there. Nurse Laverne walked away, sighing deeply. I snorted, she should be used to us by now. I stood next to Reese. Miss Caroline ran over to Malcolm, who had a bandage on his head.

Miss Caroline said. "Oh, Malcolm! Are you alright? Sorry, it took so long, I was having a little Chardonnay when you called, and I had to take a cab. Oh God, I knew we made a deeper connection. I just knew it! Now, I know it's going to be hard to turn against your parents, but in time you'll see-"

While she was ranting to Malcolm, I whispered to Reese, staring at the teacher weirdly. "What's she doing here?"

Reese whispered back. "We need 400 bucks."

I almost choked. "400 dollars?!" _Did the hospital prices go up or what? _

While we were talking, Malcolm shouted. "No! You don't understand. My parents didn't do this. It was just an accident, and they can't find out about it."

I almost laughed out loud, Just like everyone else in the neighboirhood, she thought we were crazy or violent. From what Malcolm said about her before, she was invested in him. So, I guess he's trying to get the 400 from her.

Miss Caroline stared. "What?"

I noticed before, but Reese took her credit card while she was talking to Malcolm. I shrugged, but didn't say anything. You never know.

Malcolm sighed. "It's kind of complicated. See, my parents are away at a wedding and my brother is home from military school to take care of us. And you know, I don't think people should be punished because their dad uses cheep nails. And-"

Reese blurted out."We need 400 dollars, lady."

Malcolm yelled at him. "Will you let me talk!?"

I pushed Reese's shoulder. "Seriously, shut up!"

Malcolm rolled his eyes at us and Reese shoved me harder. "Make me!"

I glared. "I will-"

Malcolm snapped, waving his hands between us. "Guys! Stop!" Miss Caroline was giving us horrified looks. Malcolm sighed again. "We need the money for the doctor bill because if my parents find out that I got hurt, then they'll send Francis back to military school and we'll never see him again and you know, we love him."

Miss Caroline was quiet for a moment. "Malcolm, I can't do that."

I deflated and Malcolm said. "But you said if I ever need something-"

"Yes! I was talking about emotional stuff. Do you have any idea what a teacher earns? I have 62 dollars in my checking account."

Malcolm said hopefully. "They take credit cards."

Miss Caroline sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm...I'm just sorry." Ok, Malcolm's plan wasn't working. I sent a pleading look toward Francis that said, 'do something'.When in doubt, go to Francis.

Reese said when she walked away. "We can break her."

Malcolm nodded. "Go for guilt."

I nodded too. "She'll fall for it." Malcolm almost had her.

Francis said. "I got it." He raised his voice. "That's okay, thanks anyway." He knelt by Dewey. "Well, Squirt, looks like I'm going to be going back to military school and I'm not going to see you for a really long time. But I need you to be brave. Can you do that for me, huh, Squirt."

Dewey cried out. "Stop Francis!"

Francis told him. "I wish that I could, Kiddo, but I can't."

Dewey was crying. I looked over and saw Francis' arm. I knew what he was doing. He was doing the pinching thing he's done before. Dewey whined. "Why are you doing this?"

Francis said 'softly'. "I'm not doing this, Dewey. It's just the way life is sometimes. Please stop crying."

Dewey was still crying. "It hurts!"

Francis cried out with him. "It hurts me too." I raised an eyebrow, his acting has gotten better.

"Wait! I'll do it! I guess Jamaica isn't going anywhere. Where is my credit card?"

I froze and Reese jumped up. "It felt out of your wallet." She looked lost and Reese said. "Let's go. Processing is right over there." Reese took her over there.

Malcolm called out. "Thank you!" I waved a little. I was a little surprised, I thought someone who taught Krelboyne's would be a little bit smarter. Especially with how they acted. Malcolm wasn't like the rest of them.

Francis hugged Dewey. "Way to take me for the team. When we get back home, you can eat ice cream until you puke."

Dewey whined, letting go of Francis. "Yay."

I made a face at what Dewey had to do. "Happy I'm too old of that."

Francis sent me a look. "Says who?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Stay away from me." He laughed and reached over, ruffling my hair roughly.

/ / / / / /

We were all squished up on the couch, all sitting and squirming in place. We were waiting for our parents to get home. Malcolm was wearing a red hat I knew Mom would notice, but we had no other way.

Malcolm shouted as we waited. "They're here!"

We all ran into the kitchen, standing together. Mom and Dad walked in the door. Dad shouted. "We're home!" Mom immediately started looking around. Dad said. "Well, I don't see any holes or any crappy attempts to plaster them up."

Mom sounded suspicious. "But I'm sure there's something. There's always something."

I gulped, I'm pretty sure Mom can read minds, no matter how stupid Malcolm says that is. Mom then said. "What are you hiding underneath that hat?"

I stiffened and Malcolm said. "Nothing, I was just wearing-" She yanked it off.

Shockingly, Mom smiled. "You kids."

We turned to them as they went to leave the room. Malcolm said. "So, you think Francis did a good job of taking care of us, then?"

Dad smiled. "A great job."

Francis sounded surprised. "Really?"

Mom agreed. "Absolutely, Francis we were having our doubts about that school, but it's really matured you. I think it's the best decision we ever made."

I stared in horror as they went to their room. "That's not fair."

Francis sighed. "That's Mom for you."

/ / / / / / /

We were saying 'bye' to Francis. We hugged him goodbye. As I hugged him, he said. "See you around, Dork. And the rest of you twerps."

I rolled my eyes, letting him go. He's called me that since I was a little kid. He said to all of us, almost out the door. "Remember to cause as much trouble as you can while I'm gone."

Mom yelled as we agreed to do that. "They better not! And I mean it. Let's get going!"

Francis raised his hands, grabbing his stuff. "Fine. I'm goin', I'm goin'." He grinned at us before walking out the door.

Reese said. "C'mon, I have an idea."

I snorted. "That's dangerous."

He snapped. "Shut up!"

He and Malcolm pulled out a ramp. We laid on our back in front of it. Reese was going to jump over us with a bike. Stupid, but we were bored. I was between Malcolm and Dewey. I got really as we heard him coming.

/ / / / / /

I was eating lunch with Shelly when I saw Miss Caroline walking past the tables. She blanched when she saw me and quickly walked off without actually running. Shelly sent me a look as I grinned. She asked. "What did you do to the Krelboyne teacher?"

I laughed hard. "Who me?" At her look, I laughed again."Well, it all started when Francis came home to watch us..."

/ / / / / /

Reese: 12, Charlie: 11, Malcolm: 10, Dewey: 5.

Francis was turning sixteen soon and in military school about a week ago, so it was a bit boring. We missed him a lot. Me, Malcolm and Reese were sitting on the couch, watching t.v. Dad was at work and Mom was in the rooms cleaning I think and Dewey was playing with his toys.

A show came on then. A scene where there guys were doing these crazy stunts. Me, Malcolm and Reese were looking at each other. I asked. "Yeah?"

Reese and Malcolm grinned at the same time. "Let's go!"

We ran outside. I looked around and saw some planks of wood laying around, the boards we used for tricks. We dragged it out into the street, putting something over it to keep it in the air. We did the same with the other plank of wood, so they were facing each other. So, there was something to land on after we hit the first.

I dragged my bike out. "Hey, I'm going first."

Reese objected. "What? No, I wanna go first."

Malcolm shrugged. "Whatever." I looked at him, but he didn't seem to be annoyed. I frowned at him; what was he planning? He smirked at me.

I shrugged at him. Malcolm said. "Reese, it's fine. Just go next."

Reese glared. "Whatever."

I went to pick up speed down the street. I came back fast and got to the first ramp, but yelled as the front wheel got between the front and second ramp. I flew off the bike and into the street, landing on my hand. "Ow! Ow! Dammit!"

I heard Reese. "Crap!"

I groaned, rolling into a ball and holding my arm to my chest. I could feel my wrist and hand throbbing. I heard Malcolm and it was closer than before. "Charlie? You good."

I snapped, annoyed and in pain. "Sure am, idiot! I just broke my hand!" Malcolm helped me sit up, ignoring me. "W-where'd Reese go?" I noticed Malcolm looked a little guilty. Would be the reason he didn't snap back and said something sarcastic back.

"He went to get Mom."

I closed my eyes as my hand did another throb. I looked at Malcolm to see his face was green and he was looking at my hand. I whined. "Don't look at it like that!"

I saw Mom come marching out and for once, I was realized. "What did you kids do?!"

I called out, wincing as my wrist jolted. "Mom, it's broken."

She sighed. "Come on, to the Er." She was careful as she helped me to the car.

(Malcolm didn't tell me until we got home from the hospital. But he moved the ramps farther away and that was the reason I fell. He didn't expect that to happen. I still was pissed and gave him a black eye anyway).

/ / / /

**The story about the time was true. I didn't break anything because I was on grass, but that happened to my bike and I got hurt, just no broken bones. **


	4. Shame

**Malcolm in the Middle**

**Shame**

**Chapter 4**

I was sitting on the bed, reading an old magazine. Mom was going to make us go to bed soon. I was in my room by myself, Malcolm, Reese and Dewey were doing something. Malcolm then came in the room. "Hey, Charlie, come on."

I looked up from the magazine and looked at him. "What?"

Malcolm frowned, leaning against the door jam. "Jumpy died."

My eyes widened in shock. "Again? I lost count on how many died."

Malcolm shrugged. "Whatever. We're gonna send it off, you wanna see?"

I thought about it and shook my head. "Nah."

Malcolm then told me. "We're gonna send it off with a firework."

I perked up, tossing the magazine on the floor and hopping up. _Okay, that's interesting._ "Cool."

I followed Malcolm to the backyard. Dewey had a shoe box which I guessed 'Jumpy' must be. Reese was with him and I noticed Dad was sitting down and reading the paper. Dad was completely focused on the paper and not us. I stood on Malcolm's other side, Dewey was in the middle of Reese and Malcolm. Malcolm said. "We're gathered here today to say goodbye to Jumpy Number 8-"

Dewey said quickly. "Nine."

Malcolm nodded. "Nine...he was a good...nine? Are you sure it's nine?"

I pointed out. "Told you there's a lot."

Malcolm hissed at me. "Shut up! Anyway, he was a very cool frog. And he led a very full life."

Reese smiled. "I remember when I stuck him in Mom's sun visor and she almost hit that lady at the crosswalk, it was hilarious."

I nodded in agreement. "That is was. I remember that."

Malcolm said. "Farewell, Jumpy Number Nine. We know your going to a better place."

Malcolm took out a firework rocket with Jumpy Number Nine attached to it. I joined my brothers by doing a salute. Dewey said. "Bye Jumpy."

It made me wonder when Jumpy Number 10 would show up. He would, it happened a lot. Malcolm stuck it into the ground. "Dad?"

Without looking away from his paper, Dad used a lighter to lite the fuse. Mom and Dad took all the lighters away because of last time. I swear, it was Reese's fault, not mine.

I watched with some awe as it exploded in the air. Reese said. "May he rest in pieces."

I copied their 'amen'. I mean, there's so many of them. We really need to stop looking for frogs. I heard Mom call. "Kids! Hal! Where are you?" 

Dad jumped up, the paper crumbling in his hands. He pointed at the four of us. "Not a word to your mother!"

We all said at the same time. "Got it." _That wasn't new._ Dad ran back into the house.

/ / / / /

I was eating lunch with Shelly, who was telling me about her Uncle Mike coming to visit. I remembered 'Uncle Mike'. He was a little weird, but a cool guy. I saw Malcolm and Stevie playing catch in the middle of the courtyard. I snorted as Malcolm caught the ball, shaking out his hand. I snorted again. "Wimp."

Shelly stopped talking. "You're a nice sister."

I grinned at her. "You know how we are."

Shelly smirked at me. "Yes, I do."

Suddenly, Malcolm threw the ball over Stevie's head. I laughed and Shelly said. "That's petty."

I shook my head. "That's Malcolm."

Malcolm ran after it and saw a big kid had it. I think he was around our age, but very baby faced. I thought it was funny before with Malcolm and Stevie, but now I was frowning at the huge kid towering over my brother. I sort of recognized him. He hasn't been in school long, but he picks on people smaller than him. I forgot his name. He bumped Malcolm after throwing the ball far away.

I scowled. "Who's that punk?"

Shelly grabbed my arm before I could move from the table. "Don't do it. You know Malcolm can handle himself."

I sat down with a huff. "Malcolm won't fight in school unless he's pushed hard enough. Me an' Reese would've kicked his ass."

/ / / / / /

It was another day of lunch and the boy was bothering Malcolm again. He was sitting with Stevie at their table. I shook my head. "Okay, I'm going over there."

Shelly sighed. "Char..."

I shrugged, walking over. "Not gonna do anything. Just in case." Malcolm would hate it if I jumped to his defense. Just going to be there in case the boy attacked him.

Shelly sighed again. "Fine, I'm coming too. I don't trust you."

I snickered. "Good, you learned."

I just heard Malcolm as we got close, but we weren't at the table. "I'm warning you, Kevin. Get out of my face."

_So, that's his name!_

Kevin sneered. "Aw, Malcolm doesn't like me eating close to his face with pizza I have and he doesn't. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza." I scowled, I would've punched him already. I wanted to now. I grimaced when sauce got on his face.

Shelly made an annoyed sound and I looked over to see an almost angry look on her face, her green eyes flashing. I looked back over to Malcolm, crossing my arms over my chest. _He's got it. _

I then grinned widely when I saw the look in Malcolm's face. I saw the anger and the clenched tick in his jaw. I knew that look from him closely. I knew he was getting pissed and that meant he was going to do something.

He wiped his face and then tackled him with a yell. I laughed and hooted. Other kids from school sensed a fight and quickly crowded us. Malcolm was hitting him and I cheered. _Idiot deserved it. _Malcolm was punching and taunting him. I raised my eyebrows, man, he must have been mad.

"Uh, Charlie?"

I cut off my snickering, pumping a fist in the air with everyone else. They were all chanting 'fight'. I asked. "What?"

She said. "Kevin's crying."

I frowned, peering closer. "What? He's not-what a baby."

Shelly nudged me. "I think it's more serious."

I waved it off. "Nah." _It was just a fight. _

A teacher then came by, grabbing Malcolm by the collar of his shirt. "Wilkerson, get off of him!"

I jumped up. "Hey, let him go!" Shelly didn't even try pulling me back. I realized it was Mr. Harold. He was the one I usually saw when getting in trouble.

Mr. Harold still had Malcolm's shirt in his hand, who looked like he was trying to squirm away. He looked surprised to see me. Mr. Harold leveled me a look. "For once, it's not you or your other brother."

I glared. "Those times weren't my fault!"

Mr. Harold sent me a look of disbelief, but let go of Malcolm. He helped Kevin up. His voice was softer when talking to Kevin. "Come on, Kevin. To the nurse's office." _Now, that's just not fair. _

Kevin sobbed. "O-okay."

Me and Malcolm were looking at him weird, he was overreacting. Mr. Harold said. "Let's go, Wilkerson."

Malcolm finally said something. "Charlie?"

I nodded, used to this part of getting in trouble at school. "Come on." I looked at Shelly. "I'll be back." She nodded, friends with me long enough to know where this was going.

Mr. Harold held up a hand. "I mean your brother, Miss Wilkerson."

I stuck my chin out. "I'm coming." Malcolm was staring at Kevin surprised.

Kevin whimpered and Mr. Harold sighed. "Fine."

When we got to the nurse's office, Mr. Harold left with a glare to me and my brother. We were talking while we walked to the nurses' office.

_I whispered. "You kicked the punk's ass!"_

_Malcolm whispered back. "I know, I don't know why he was crying so much."_

_I shrugged. "He's a big baby. Reese would be proud, you know."_

_Malcolm shrugged back. "I guess and I know."_

The nurse said when Kevin was sitting down next to her. "So, you beat him up?" She was glaring at Malcolm.

Malcolm sputtered. "He started it!"

The nurse snapped. "He's seven!"

I gaped in shock. "What!?" Kevin's about Dewey's age and 10x's bigger than him. Hell, he's bigger than Reese.

Malcolm looked horrified. "What do you mean he's only seven?!"

The nurse snapped again. "What's there not to understand? He just turned seven. I guess you were too busy beating him to notice."

Malcolm was starting to look guilty. "He can't be seven! He's bigger than I am!"

_I mean, it's a honest mistake. Have you seen the size of this kid and he was the one bullying Malcolm. _

The nurse asked angrily. "He's in the second grade. Look at all this blood."

Malcolm said quickly. "That's not blood, it's pizza sauce. Well, that's blood, but-"

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" _Oh great. It's Miss Caroline. _She asked. "What happened?"

Kevin wailed. "I want my Teletubby!"

Malcolm screamed. "A doll?! You can't play with dolls if your seven. Why are you seven!?"

Miss Caroline was horrified and gasped. "You beat up a seven year old?"

Malcolm shouted. "I didn't know!"

Miss Caroline said. "I don't blame you. I put this squarely where it belongs. On me."

I was confused at how guilty Malcolm was. I mean, I know he was a kid, but he basically started it.

Malcolm cried out. "Kevin, I'm sorry."

I finally blurted out. "Why are you apologizing? It's his fault! He's built like he's way bigger than us anyway."

The nurse sent me a dark look. "Maybe in your family, it's okay to beat up kids."

I scoffed, offended. "He's a punk! He was aski-wait, what do you mean about that?"

Malcolm pulled me back by my arm. "Charlie! Stop!"

I snapped, pulling my arm from him. "No, it's-"

Kevin interrupted me, wailing. "It's the worst birthday ever!"

I blanched, waving a hand in the air. "You've got to be kidding me!"

The nurse was sending both of us angry looks, slamming the curtain shut. Malcolm was looking a little sick. I frowned, he was a bit sensitive sometimes. "Malcolm-"

Malcolm glared, shoving me away. "Leave me alone!" He stormed away.

"Hey!" I wanted to get mad, but didn't see the point. He was obviously mad, getting mad back at him wouldn't do anything. Plus, he was upset, not that I would tell him that reason.

Miss Caroline was still looking shocked. I walked out of there and was looking for Shelly to tell her what happened.

/ / / /

All four of us were walking home together. Reese was grinning. "I heard you beat someone up, Malcolm." I snorted to myself. That was saying it lightly.

Malcolm was sending us annoyed looks. "Knock it off." Dewey was being quiet. Reese took a paper from Malcolm's hands.

Reese read it out loud. "Inappropriate. Vicious. Oh, wait-thug? Dude, I never gotten thug before. That's like the Oscar."

I looked over his shoulder. "No way that says-holy crap, it actually says thug." I've seen my own version of these for fighting.

Dewey then said. "Susie Gunther ate my crayons. Can you beat her up tomorrow?"

Malcolm snapped. "Leave me alone!"

I shrugged, telling Dewey. "Just eat her crayons next time, Dewey."

Dewey stared at me for a moment. "Okay."

Reese said. "You know what my favorite part is? It's when you pound on someone and then a day later, you can still feel the pain in your knuckles. Oh, I love that."

Malcolm spat. "Oh, shut up, Reese."

I gave Reese a weird look. "Yeah, that's a bit much."

Reese asked me. "You don't enjoy beating people up who piss you off?"

I frowned a bit. "Well, yeah, but not like that." Reese shrugged at me.

Malcolm yelled at us. "Knock it off, already-"

Reese raised his eyes mockingly. "Pace yourself, killer." I heard that buzzing noise and I thought it was landscaping or something. But no, it was Dad. I followed Reese and Dewey to Dad.

Reese demanded. "Dad, you cut down the tree and we missed it?" Dad told us before we went to the school that was gonna cut the tree at some point.

I agreed. "Yeah, not cool, Dad."

Dad laughed. "Oh baby, you missed it, alright. I was about 2/3 of the way through her- then crack! Kaboom! My chainsaw goes flying. All the car alarms go off. About a hundred squirrels came out bolting out of the branches. Then a pack of dogs came out of nowhere and chased them all over the neighborhood. Man, I never seen anything like it."

Reese groaned. "Man..."

I nodded. "I can't believe we missed all that chaos."

Dad said. "Don't worry, kids. You get to share in the best part. Cleaning up." Me and Reese shared a look, rolling our eyes.

I whined. "But we didn't get to have any fun, why are we cleaning up?"

Dad smiled and said. "Simple. I'm you Dad and I told you too."

Me and Reese groaned.

/ / / / /

It was early in the morning and I grabbed the toothpaste, brushing my teeth. Reese came over and grabbed it. He said. "Hey, no fair. You used the last of it."

I shrugged, spitting in the sink. "So? Your breath smells anyway."

Dewey jumped around. "Guys, get out. I have to pee!"

Me and Reese said. "Shut up, Dewey."

Reese shoved me and I shoved back. I said. "Hey!" My elbow hit the counter. "Ow!"

Reese snickered. "Ha!"

Dewey danced. "Come on!"

I narrowed my eyes. "You little..."

"Charlotte! Reese! Knock it off and come in here!"

Me and Reese called back. "Yes, Mom!"

I rubbed my arm. "Where's Malcolm?"

Reese looked around the bathroom. "Huh? I don't know." Me and Reese left the bathroom. Dewey slammed the door closed. Reese asked. "What's with him?"

I laughed, going with him to the front table. Mom said he couldn't pee in front of me anymore, which was weird since she still shaved Dad in front of me, but it was best not to argue with her.

Mom was making breakfast, better and fancier than usual. Malcolm was already sitting at the table. I was sitting next to Reese. Malcolm and Dewey were sitting next to each other. Dad was at the end of the table. Dewey asked. "Why are the eggs so little?"

Mom sent a plate in front of me with sausage, an egg, hash browns and bacon. I said. "Thanks." Mom squeezed my shoulder, moving on around the table.

Mom said. "They're robin eggs from the tree your father cut down. Paul Bunyan." I made a face, they were doing their weird flirting thing.

Dad said. "That's nature for you. Hundred years to grow, 12 minutes to cut down. There's got to be a lesson in there somewhere?"

Malcolm was looking between Mom and Dad nervously. Did he think he was going to get in trouble. Then again, our parents are weird. They ground us for no reason sometimes.

Mom sat down. She smiled. "It's nice having this extra light in the room."

Dad said, pleased. "Wait until I bring in the wood chipper. Then you're really gonna see something." I looked at him in interest. _Wood chipper?_

Malcolm then jumped up. "I can't take this anymore! When are you going to punish me?"

I gave him a disappointed look, eating my food. "Dude."

Mom ignored me. "For what?"

Malcolm shouted. "For beating up a seven year old!"

I snorted at that and all of us were laughing. He might feel guilty, but I think the punk deserved it (maybe not that bad), but he did. He shouldn't be bullying kids older than him.

Mom laughed. "Oh my God, that's right. You must have just felt ridiculous when you found out how old that kid was."

Dad patted his cheek. "I could imagine the look on his face."

I gave a loud laugh at the image, I was there to see it. The doorbell rang and Mom gave a happy sigh. Don't hear that much. She said. "I'll get it. This is nice. We should start everyday with a good laugh."

Malcolm said. "It's not funny. It's awful! I did something horrible. Don't you even care?"

When Mom went to the door, Dad said. "Well, it's nothing to be proud of, son. But, you told us the whole story, and he didn't give you much choice. It was a honest beating mistake."

I nodded. "Yeah, I was there. Brat was asking for it. Dewey wouldn't do something that stupid." Dewey nodded along. He knew there would be payback trying to do something like that to us.

Reese nodded too before Malcolm could deny anything. "Yeah, besides it sends a good message to our enemies."

I tilted my head. _What?_

Malcolm was annoyed. "What are you talking about? What enemies?"

Reese smirked. "Oh, they're out there. And once they know we're capable of this, they'll know we're capable of anything."

I stared at Reese before looking at Malcolm. "Ignoring that because it was weird, stop feeling so bad. If he was gonna be a wimp, he shouldn't be picking on people older than him. He got what he deserved."

Malcolm's face flooded red. He shouted. "No-"

Mom yelled, stopping Malcolm from finishing. "It's none of you business what we do on our property!"

Dad got up to look and I heard one of our neighbor's say. "That tree was older than your house. You had no right to cut it down. We're a neighborhood and removing trees is a neighborhood decision."

I followed Malcolm to the front door. Mom snapped at the three people at our door. Mom spat. "Oh, y-you people-for the last 15 years, you've mowed your lawns in the middle of the night so you don't have to talk to us. What? Now all of a sudden we're a neighborhood?"

Dad then came over to the door. "What's going on here?"

The same neighbor from before complained, I realized it was Edward or as everyone called him, Ed. "You caused a blight on our street by cutting down that tree."

Dad asked, confused. "How is cutting down a tree a blight?"

Ed yelled. "Because now we can see your house!"

I was annoyed at that, even if we knew how they felt about us. "Hey!" Still, we weren't that bad.

One of our neighbors gave me a wary look. I realized it was Tommy's mom, a kid got a fight with. I won of course, but he was a wimp.

Mom raised a hand. "Not now, Charlie. Well, let me tell you something, Ed. They way I'm concerned, you and all the neighbors can just-"

Mom and Dad were yelling after that. Reese came over before and was making noises at them. I snickered as I saw Dewey on the table, throwing food. I smirked and reminded Tommy's mom how I kicked her son's ass. Eventually they all ran off. Me and Reese slapped high fives. "Alright!"

Malcolm was looking at us in disbelief. "You're all crazy!"

I walked over to him, slapping him on the shoulder. "Like your not."

I walked back to the table. Malcolm called out. "Not like that."

I sung back. "Whatever you say."

/ / / / /

Malcolm disappeared somewhere and I decided to hang out with Shelly. Whatever Malcolm was dealing with, he'd be okay. It was after school and I asked. "You wanna swing by my place?"

Shelly shrugged. "Sure, Malcolm still bothered by beating up Kevin?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I don't know why. It's not like he's a bully like Reese."

Shelly shook her head at me. "He feels bad. Kevin was around Dewey's age."

I scoffed. "Yeah, but Dewey wouldn't be stupid to pick on someone older than him."

Shelly nodded. "I know that, but he's still a kid."

I snorted at her words. "We just don't agree on that. I have two older brothers." I could remember the times I pissed off Reese or Francis, more Francis since he was more than a year older than me. Shelly was an only child, she didn't get it.

We decided to go to my place before going over to hers. Dad, Reese and Dewey were surrounded by a humming and shaking machine. Shelly asked, speaking a little loudly. "What that?"

I shrugged. "Who knows. Come on." We walked over and I called out. "Dad! What's up?"

Dad yelled back. "I got a shredder for the tree."

I grinned. "Awesome!"

Shelly gave a sigh, when she looked at me. "Oh no."

Dad clapped his hands together. "Okay, what you kids got?" Dewey and Reese ran into the house. Dad handed us both goggles. He smiled at Shelly. "Hey, Michelle."

Shelly smiled back. "Hi, Mr. Wilkerson." She's known us all for a long time.

I asked. "Shelly's joining us."

Dad waved a hand. "Sure, why not?"

Dewey and Reese came back. Dewey threw in a rug. We ran back in the house and I found an old stuffed animal. "Come on!"

Reese tossed in a Hawaiian shirt and I tossed in the stuffed animal. I nodded my head, grinning. "Cool."

Shelly had something in her bag, an old pencil case. We cheered as she jumped up and tossed it in. It came out the other side, messed up. There was something cool about throwing stuff to destroy it. We threw pillows, watermelons, basketballs (which we played a short gave of), we even had some confetti. Dad said. "Well, you obviously run out of ideas."

I gave a sigh of disappointment, but nodded anyway.

/ / / / /

The next day it was the same thing. Malcolm was still sulking and I was about to say something, maybe smack him or something. Shelly said it wouldn't help. That it would cause us to fight and Malcolm would just go back to sulking again.

We were walking n the street, when I pulled Shelly to the side. I said. "Watch-Malcolm!"

I stared in confusion. He was being chased by a huge dog. "Got to go! Bye!"

Shelly laughed. "What was that?"

I snorted, letting go of her. "It's Malcolm. Who knows?"

We were at her front door and she opened it. There was loud shouting from people I recognized as her parents. I blinked. "What?"

Shelly had out a sound like a growl and I backed up up a step as she shut the door. Shelly doesn't get mad, but when she does, you want to back up. She sat on the stairs with an annoyed huff. I plopped down beside her. "What's going on?"

Shelly rubbed her face. "Nothing. J-just them fighting over Dad's job, problems with management or something like that. I don't know."

I was quiet for a moment. I then asked. "What does your Dad do again?"

She laughed, I was happy I got her to. "Corporate business."

I stuck out my tongue. "Bleh."

Shelly laughed again. "Yeah, I know." She sighed.

I frowned to myself. Shelly wasn't sad often, but I hated seeing it. It wasn't like with my brothers. I had to be more sensitive. I scooted closer and threw an arm over her shoulders, hugged her to my side. "Hey, I'm sure they'll figure it out."

She sighed again and laid her head on my shoulder. "Thank you."

I smiled down at her. "Don't sweat it."

/ / / /

When we were sitting down for dinner, Mom said. "Malcolm told me something today."

I raised my hands. "I didn't do anything to him."

Reese was quick to add. "Me neither, I swear."

Dad was looking to see if a fight would break out, so he didn't know what it was Mom was talking about. Mom said. "It's nothing like that, it's something good."

I snickered. "Yeah, a super Krelboyne."

Reese laughed. "Good one!"

Mom sent us a stern look. "Reese! Charlie! Knock it off."

I sighed. Me and Reese said dully. "Sorry Malcolm."

Mom then said. "As I was saying, Malcolm joined a race for charity."

I sent my younger brother a look. "You hate running." _Why did I think it had something to do with Kevin?_

Malcolm said seriously. "I want to do this."

I shook my head. "Whatever, man."

For some reason, Dewey was playing with his food. Mom said. "Charlie, try to encourage your brother." _I mean, she wasn't yelling or scolding me, but still…_

Reese smirked at me. "Yeah."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine!" Malcolm was only doing this for some stupid guilty reason.

/ / / /

It was night time and Malcolm ran his marathon earlier in the day. Well, 'run' is a little bit of the stretch. He tripped on the first step. Right now, we were all sitting in our beds.

I then said. "Hey, Malcolm?"

He looked up and over at me. "Yeah?"

I frowned for second before I asked. "You done feeling bad about Kevin?" I swear if he wasn't, I was gonna hit him.

Reese nodded. "Yeah, your no fun these few days. Seriously, I never feel bad."

Dewey said. "We know that."

Reese looked at him, making a fist. "You say something?"

Dewey shook his head quickly. "No."

Malcolm looked over at me. "No."

I nodded in relief. "Good." I thought of something and burst in laughter.

Reese jumped. "What? What up with you?!" He looked a bit annoyed.

I grinned widely at Malcolm. "Malcolm! I can't believe you failed on the first step!" Reese and Dewey laughed at him. _I couldn't just let it go. _

Malcolm spat, his face getting red. "Shut up, Charlie."

I smirked at his embarrassment. "Make me!"

Before I could blink, he got up and tackled me off my bed. I yelped as I smacked my head into Reese's bed frame. "Ow!" I grabbed his shirt and fought back. We were rolling a little.

"Charlotte! Malcolm! Reese! No fighting!"

Reese shouted, his tone offending. "It's not me!"

Mom came in, yanking us apart. "Charlie! Malcolm, stop it already. Are you kidding me?! Go to sleep."

Malcolm snapped. "Charlie started it."

I scoffed. "Did not. You attacked me first."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like you weren't pushing me."

Mom pushed us toward our beds. "Enough. I don't care who started it. Go to sleep. Next time I have to come in here, one of you will sleep on the couch." She left. \

Malcolm got in his and Dewey's bed. "Whatever. Leave me alone."

I shook my head, grumbling. "Baby."

Reese look happy to not being yelled at by Mom for once. I got into bed, it wasn't worth it. Dewey was actually asleep.


	5. Malcom Babysits

**Malcolm in the Middle**

**Wilkerson Sister **

**Chapter 5**

**Season 1 Episode 5**

**Malcolm Babysits**

I sat behind Reese and Malcolm, sitting on the edge of the seat on the couch. I was playing winner as I lost to Reese on my last turn. Dewey was playing with one of his toys next to me. He asked. "Pass the chips, please."

I leaned over, grabbing them from Reese and taking a couple, giving them to Dewey. I ate my chips and Dewey grinned. "Thank you."

When he was done, I handed the bowl back to Reese, who put it in his lap. I said. "Thanks."

Reese said back. "You're welcome." Normally it would've been weird, but we were also nicer to each other when we played video games. It was a mutual violence we all enjoyed. The more violent, the better.

Malcolm said. "Wow, that was a really great move . My head just went flying." It was true, I wondered how he knew that combination.

Reese smiled. "Thank you."

Malcolm beamed back. "Thank you."

I said, leaning closer. "Hey, Reese, you gotta show me that move."

Reese told me, kicking Malcolm's character across the chest. "Sure thing."

I was surprised when Mom came into the T.V room. "I told you kids these games are too violent."She turned it off, putting on one of Dewey's stupid educational shows. Mom told us. "Hey, watch something wholesome."

I was indignant. It was about to be my turn. "Hey!"

Mom was already walking away. "Charlie, you know how I feel about these games." She went back into the kitchen.

I groaned, leaning back against the couch and crossing my arms over my chest. "No fair." We all stared at the childish show playing on the T.V.

Dewey suddenly got up and snapped. "Give me more chips."

Reese yelled back. "Get your own, doofus!"

Malcolm yelled at them. "Shut up, I watching this."

I was annoyed at all of them. "Shut up! We know you're not watching this."

Dewey yelled back at us. "You shut up! I want more chips!"

Malcolm snapped back at me. "Yes, I am! Why are you so mad?"

I rolled my eyes. "I could've played another round if it wasn't for you guys being so loud."

Malcolm said back. "Not my fault you suck." _I did not! Reese cheated! _Mad at his words, I shoved him and he shoved me back. Reese threw chips in Dewey face, causing Dewey to tackle him, which had him knocking me and Malcolm to the floor (especially since me and Malcolm were close to doing the same thing). We ended up in a four way pile up.

I grunted, shoving Malcolm's hand off my forehead, Reese's elbow out of my side and kicking Dewey off my legs. I heard something break, but was distracted by Malcolm arms around my neck as Reese was on top of me, which holding Dewey down, who's foot was shoving into my neck. I got out of Malcolm's headlock, trying to jump at him. We all sort of rolled around as we fought.

_Just another day. _

/ / / / / /

It was almost time for bed. I was sitting on the couch watching T.V. Behind me, Malcolm and Mom were arguing about something. Mom said. "90 bucks for a toy?"

Malcolm argued. "It's not a toy. It's a robotic kit. You build a little mechanical rover. It teaches you about electronics and engineering."

Mom replied. "Does it teach you how to pick up your socks? Because that I'd be interested in."

I smirked. She always seemed to be complaining about some kind of mess we made. I turned my head around to see Mom doing laundry. I asked. "If Malcolm gets his nerd toy, can I get a remote control car. It can go up to 100ft. It'll even teach me to drive."

Malcolm glared at me. "Shut up, Charlie! I'm talking to Mom." He paused, glaring at me harder if that was possible. "It's not a nerd toy."_ It so was, but I didn't want to get in trouble with Mom for saying so._

Mom raised her hands. "Okay, both of you calm down." I knew that was her calm way of tell us to behave before she started to yell.

So, as Malcolm rolled his eyes, I shrugged, turning back toward the T.V. My neck was starting to hurt. "Sure." I mean, I wanted the car, but I was mostly doing it to mess with him. He took the last slice of pizza at dinner, I knew he knew that I wanted it.

Dad cut in. "Besides, son, robots are evil."

Malcolm's voice was full of disbelief. "What?!"

I grinned._ So, this again._ I snickered under my breath. Dad said. "Westworld, Terminator, the creepy maid from the Jetsons. How much scientific proof do you need?"

That was not surprising, coming from Dad. He was always saying paranoid stuff like that. Malcolm whined. "Mom!"

I listened as Mom scolded him. "Malcolm, no! If you want this thing so badly, you pay for it with your own money. You're gonna start babysitting next week, so save up."

_Oh yeah, last week Malcolm got hired for a babysitting job next week. I could've found a job, but I rather hang out with Shelly. Speaking of her, she was kind of down lately. She wouldn't tell me what it was, but I knew nothing I said would change her mind until she wanted to tell me. It annoyed me that she wasn't telling me, but I couldn't do anything about that._

Malcolm complained. "I don't even know what they're gonna pay me."

Mom had her scolding voice on. I held in my groan so she didn't pay attention to me. She told him. "I'm telling you what they're gonna pay ya. They're gonna pay you what all jobs pay-less that your worth, but enough to keep you crawling back for more. Now go on. It's bedtime." Mom then came over and shut off the T.V.

I groaned. "Hey, come on."

Mom pulled me up and pushed me toward the bathroom. "No, 'hey, come on' with me, time for bed, missy."

I sighed. "Fine." Not matter if I liked the show, you didn't argue with her. I walked with Malcolm to the bathroom. I nudged him. "Thanks for making me listen to a 'Mom lecture'."

Malcolm huffed at me. "Oh, lay off. It's your fault she said no. You couldn't just shut up."

I scoffed. "Oh, please. Mom wouldn't get you a almost 100 dollar dork toy."

I was smug as Malcolm glared at me. "I told you it's not a nerd or dork toy."

I smirked at him, egging him on. "The Krelboyne's would be impressed." I knew that would annoy him.

I was right and Malcolm made a frustrated growl. "I swear-Reese!" He saw something and ran into the bathroom. I was curious and followed after him. "You buttwipe. That's my toothbrush."

_Oh, Reese took his toothbrush again. _

Malcolm snapped at him. "You can't just take someone's toothbrush. Give me that."

Reese shrugged. "Fine." I was holding in my laughter. I could tell by the easy going voice he had, Reese was going to pull something. And I was going to watch. He tossed it into the toilet, smirking. "Oops."

I couldn't help, but burst into laughter, bending at the waist and holding my side as Malcolm sprayed him with toothpaste on his shirt. Well, until I noticed my hairbrush in the trash, gross and wet toilet paper covering it. "What the hell?" I looked at Reese and Malcolm fighting, noticing Dewey's shifty look. Dude, come on!" I glared at him.

Dewey whined. "It's not my fault! I knocked it off the counter and had to clean up a mess."

"So, you throw crap on it? My hair's a bit short, but I still need it, you little punk!" Malcolm and Reese were still fighting. I then gave Dewey a 'look'.

Dewey raised his hands, a scared look on his face. He backed up. "Charlie...It was an accident!" I picked him up under his arms, sticking him butt first in the toilet firmly. He complained, as he squirmed. "No fair, I can't get out!"

I laughed. "That's the point, doofus!" Reese and Malcolm bumped into me, getting toothpaste on the back of my shirt. "Hey!"

I then heard Mom's voice. "Bedtime was 20 minutes ago!" She shoved us all in the room. I realized my shirt was wet too, must have been from Malcolm, since his shirt was wet. She then yelled. "Hal, bring the spray."

Reese complained. "I haven't rinsed yet."

"Only boys who behave themselves get to rinse. Honestly, every night we go through this."

I pulled my wet and toothpaste stained shirt from my body. "Mom, my shirt's dirty."

She reached in a drawer, pulling out a shirt and tossing it to me. "Here, change. Boys, look away from your sister." I didn't care, tugging off my old shirt and pulling the new one over my head.

I stood by my bed. "Wait, I didn't even get to brush."

Mom made me sit on the bed, by my shoulder. "Like I told you brother, only good boys get to and-don't think because you're a girl, that doesn't count for you." My shoulders slumped, it's like she always knew.

Dewey asked, sitting on his bed. "Tell me a story."

Mom told him. "Once upon a time, there was a little boy who drove his mom so crazy, she decided to sell him to the circus." I smirked, we all heard that one before.

Dewey was worried. "A evil circus?"

Probably seeing that scaring him right before bed wasn't the best idea, Mom told him. "No, a nice one with monkeys."

Dewey smiled. "Thank you." Malcolm was laying on their bed without a shirt.

Dad came in with a stray can. "Wait, wait. I think I see where they're coming from." Dad has been chasing bugs in our house forever, but lately, they got worse. I watched as he went to part of the wall closer to the floor. He then screamed. I craned my neck to look over more, Dad was always screaming for some reason.

I asked. "Dad?"

Dad jumped around and then clapped his hands. "Ok, come on kids. We're all camping out in the den, tonight."

/ / / / / / /

We had to sleep all scrunched up together in the T.V room. We had to leave the house. Before that, Mom told us to pack a bag, which was slung over my shoulder. I watched as they put a colorful tent around our house. "This sucks."

Dewey said brightly. "Look, the circus! The circus is at our house!"

I was annoyed and smacked him. "You idiot, they're fumigating the house."

I yelped as a smack hit the back of my head. "Ow!"

I was faced with Mom's stern look. "Don't call your brother an idiot."

I huffed, not wanting to get in trouble. "Fine."

Mom steered us toward the trailer in our yard. "Well, say goodbye for a few days, kids. We're moving out."

I walked into the trailer and heard Malcolm complain. "This is humiliating. Why can't we just stay at a nice hotel?"

I looked back at him. _What?_ Even, I knew we didn't have money like that. Mom said. "We gave all our money to the exterminators so they can stay in nice hotels."

I groaned as I looked around the cramped hot space. I just got in, but I could feel the heat. "Great, we're staying in a dump."

Malcolm came in, also groaning. "I know."

Mom voice was cheerful when she came in with us. "It's cozy." _She's trying way too hard. _

Malcolm exclaimed. "It's 150 degrees in here!" That was very much true. I wiped my face.

Reese complained. "My butt is sweating."

I gave him a look. "Dude."

Mom just said. "It needs to air out a little." _I really hope's talking about the trailer. _

I snapped as I saw Reese unbuckling his pants. "Ew, man! Don't do that."

Mom sent Reese a look. "The trailer. Come on, let's make the best of this."

Malcolm said, annoyed look on his face. "I'm going to babysit."

Mom was surprised. "It's still early."

Malcolm told her. "They don't mind."

Mom sent him a look of disbelief. "They paying you okay?"

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, it's okay."

I snorted. "Surprised you didn't break anything."

He sent me a glare. "Shut up!" I tensed, figuring he would fight me, but he ran off.

I raised my eyebrows. "Huh?" Mom told me to leave him alone. He must really want to babysit, I figured he would hate it.

I grimaced and wiped my forehead, already feeling the sweat. "I'm goin' to Shelly's."

Mom looked over at me, from where she was fixing some clothes. "You sure you don't want to stay?" I looked around the cramped trailer, already smelling the sweat. "Nope. See ya." Reese rolled over with a groan. Dewey tugged his shirt off.

/ / / / /

I knocked on the door hard. The door opened and it was Shelly. "Chars-why are you so sweaty?" I let out a groan, explaining the whole story. She shivered. "Ew, bugs."

I snickered. My face brightened as I had an idea. "Can I stay here?" I walked inside, following her to her room.

Shelly actually laughed at me. "Are you kidding?"

I'll admit it, I pouted at her. "No. Why not?" I'll also admit this, my voice had a bit of a whine to it.

Shelly grinned at me. "You do remember the last time you slept here, right?"

I thought back and remembered a broken microwave that was set on fire and somehow causing their refrigerator to break down. I let out a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. Her mom was always wary of me because of that. Her Dad was mad before, but afterward, he looked a little amused. I said. "Mom killed me for that one."

Shelly shrugged. "That's not surprising." She knew how bad me and my siblings could get. We hung out until I had to go home.

/ / / / /

It was getting dark as I walked back home toward the trailer. I scowled at the thought. I just wanted to go home. I saw Reese and Dewey outside in t-shirts and their underwear. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt myself. Reese looked bored, he waved his hand at me. "Hey, Charlie."

I nodded at him. Mom and Dad were screaming at each other. "What's going on?"

Dewey was laying on the ground. "They are fighting all day."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" They didn't really fight much, they were too busy yelling at us most of the time. Reese nodded. Suddenly Dad was thrown out and with the door open, we quietly snuck back in. She didn't see us because she was still screaming at Dad, throwing clothes out the window.

Dewey started to talk and I slapped a hand over his mouth. "Dude, don't talk."

Reese nodded, saying quietly (something I never though he would be able to do). "Yeah. Don't get _it _mad at you." _We knew better. _

/ / / / / / /

Later on, once things cooled down between Mom and Dad, he came back inside. They weren't back to normal, we could all still feel the tension. Malcolm wasn't here, he was babysitting again. I was really wondering about him. The rest of us were trying to fix the small T.V. We were using tinfoil, I didn't know if that worked in real life like it did in the movies.

_Man, I really miss the T.V._

Dewey was fixing the antenna and Reese was messing with the knobs. I was standing behind Dad. He said. "Up higher, Dewey." Dewey fixed it.

Well, until Reese shoved me into it. For some reason, that made me more mad than usual. A moment later, we were fighting on the floor. It was way too hot to deal with this. I was sitting on him, grabbing him by the nose and he was yanking at my hair.

I yelped in a different kind of pain when I felt my ear being yanked. I was pulled off of Reese and by his cry, so was he.

I already knew who it was. "Will you two knock it off?! It's way too hot for this!"

I could already feel myself getting hotter. I moved toward Reese. "He started it."

Reese stepped up toward me. "No! She did."

I don't think we thought that Mom still had a hold on our ears. She yanked and we let out cries of pain. "Ow!"

Mom yelled at us, keeping us separate. "I said that's enough. Corners, the both of you!" We protested, but she pushed us toward different parts of the trailers. "Go on."

I didn't really get embarrassed. I guess I should be being 12 years old, but it happened often enough. I got on my knees on my side of the trailer, hands interlocked behind my head.

A while later, we were let out. After dinner, we were just sitting around. I was in my shirt and shortest shorts I could find. Sucks because I'm a girl, I can't take my pants off because of the heat. Mom _and _Dad already yelled at me for trying. Now, I was sitting on the bed and Reese was on the cabinet, reading a comic. I looked over, I didn't read that one yet. I'll ask him for it later.

The heat was building in the trailer as well as the tension. I heard Reese flip a page loudly. Mom snapped. "Keep it down."

Reese looked lost. "Huh?"

Dad yelled at him. "Don't talk to your mother like that."

Mom then said. "Would you go sit in the corner."

Reese complained. "I was just there!"

Dad ignored his complaints, making him go in the corner. Dad whispered something to Mom and then he went outside. I was getting a little worried. They didn't really fight, not like this. They for some reason make up in a day or two. Reese was still in the corner and Dewey was asleep.

Malcolm came in, looking a little bothered. I asked. "Dude, you okay?"

Malcolm blinked. "Uh, yeah. I'm good."

I frowned at him and shrugged. "Okay." Reese joined us on the bed.

I woke up to Mom yelling at Reese. "For the last time, clip your toenails over the toilet!"

I groaned and covered my head with my hands. "I'm still sleeping."

Reese told me. "Shut up, I'm talking."

I didn't reply, shoveling my head under the pillow. From what I felt, I was the only one in the bed. Mom and Reese were still fighting with each other and I was blocking it out. I was almost back to sleep, when the sunlight hit my eyes. I let out a cry. "Charlie. It's time to get up."

I whined out. "No! Sleepy."

Suddenly, a knock hit the trailer. Mom stopped arguing with Reese and opened the door roughly. "Hal-oh. You're looking for Charlie?"

I perked my head up tiredly. _Who'd want to talk to me? _

Mom called to me. (Was that really needed). "Charlie! Michelle is here."

My eyes widened and I rolled out out the bed. I shucked off the sleep shorts, throwing on jeans and a t-shirt. I ignored the 'ew' from Reese. I ignored him, he did it all the time and that was more gross. I shoved on my shoes, flatting my hair. I squinted at the bright sky as I got outside. When I got outside, Mom glared at Dad and shut the door. He was off to the side, folding clothes.

I frowned when I saw her, Shelly eyes were red. Which I knew must have been from crying or holding it back. "What's wrong?"

Shelly crossed her arms over her chest. "Nothing."

I rolled my eyes, giving her a look. "Come on, Shell. Don't pull that crap with me." _I was not going to let her pull this. _

We walked away from the trailer a bit. After a minute of me not changing my look, she relented. "My parents are fighting about his work again. It's getting worse."

I frowned, shoving back on my heels, putting my hands in my pockets. I felt myself get a little red, knowing what I was going to say. "Well, when you feel bad...just come to me."

Shelly's eyes widened, but gave me a small, but happy smile. "Thanks, Charls. You really are a good friend."

I knew my face was getting a bit redder. We weren't type of friends to say things like that. "Thanks..."

/ / / /

When I got back home, Malcolm was complaining about his old job, which he quit. He was explaining what happened and I froze. "Wait."

Malcolm stopped, giving me an annoyed look. "What?"

I scowled at him in disbelief. "You were living it up while we lived in Craig's crap trailer!?" Beyond annoyed at him, I gave Malcolm a dark look.

Malcolm tensed at the look, rolling his eyes. "Charlie."

I glared at him. "Run." He took off and I chased after him with the intent to hurt him. I tackled him, punching him a couple of times before getting off him and letting it go.

/ / / /

Francis: 14

Reese: 11

Charlie: 10

Malcolm: 9

Dewey: 4

Francis hasn't been in trouble for a while. I was a bit annoyed at him right now. He took the couple of dollars I had saved for candy because of some girl or something like that. I was annoyed. I wanted my candy bar. Dad was at work and Mom was handling Dewey in her room. He was getting annoying and loud lately. He was throwing a bunch an tantrums. Reese was out and Malcolm was doing homework in our room.

I was sitting at the table, chin resting on folding arms. Francis was sitting outside. I think he said he was waiting for something. I was hard getting Francis back for stuff. He was older, smarter and stronger. He always got us back, _always. _Francis basically treated us all the same. I found it weird when I found out a girl I knew said her older brother was gentler with her then their brothers. That's just weird. Francis would never do that.

Then, the phone rang. I groaned, stomping to the phone with a huff. "Hello?"

The other person on the line sounded like a girl. "Hello? This Francis' house?"

I blinked. "Francis? Why?"

The girl then asked. "Who's this?"

I shrugged, even if the girl couldn't see me. "His sister."

"It's Shanna, we're supposed to be going out, so could you give him the phone?"

I suddenly had a thought and smirked. I remembered how excited he was about going out with some girl. I asked 'innocently'. "So, you're not Anna? Or Susan?"

I heard a pissed off scream. "WHAT!?"

I winced and hissed. "Ow."

Francis came in. He looked over at me. "Who's on the phone?"

I handed it to him. "For you."

He grinned, taking it and patted my head. I went toward the backyard and sat on the bench. I waited for his reaction. A moment later. "CHARLIE! YOU'RE DEAD!"

I jumped up in shock. I didn't expect him to be that mad. He ran out here, face red and glaring at me. I paled and raised my hands, stumbling back a step. "H-hey, w-wait a minute."

Francis snapped. "You better outrun me, kid." I ran around the table and back into the house. He was chasing me around the table. "Get back here!"

I shouted over my shoulder. "No!" I stood on one side, moving to the other side when it looked like he was getting closer.

Francis snapped again. "You little shit. Stop running."

I said quickly. "I'm sorry!"

"You will be!"

I tried to run past him, but he was able to tackle me. I yelped and tried to squirm away. "Get off!" I raised my arms. He was smacking anything he could reach. "Ow. Ow! Stop!"

"FRANCIS! CHARLOTTE! KNOCK IT OFF!"

Francis got off me after rubbing his knuckles hard on my head. I groaned, that hurt. Francis grumbled. "I'll get you back."

I squawked. "That's not getting me back!?"

"You wait."

Malcolm was looked at me from outside our room. "You deserved it."

I groaned, rolling to my feet. "Shut up." That's why we didn't try to get Francis back. He always kicked our butt and got us back.

_It was so worth it. _


	6. Malcolm's Sleepover

**Malcolm in the Middle.**

** Chapter 6**

** Malcolm's Sleepover**

**Guest #1: Glad you like it. **

**MarionintheMiddle: One of the reason I wrote this is because they aren't really that many. Also, yeah. In some of the scenes when he's not with the family, there's no reason for them to be together. Also, siblings are seperate at times in different situations. **

"Mom, I don't want to!" I was annoyed, Mom was obsessed with getting a professional proper picture taken. Which meant I was stuck wearing a dress, which I hated. Mom stopped making me wear _these _years ago, except for special occasions. Malcolm and Reese were shoving each other and arguing. That wasn't surprising. It was something about telling the other one not to touch them. That also wasn't surprising.

Reese said. "I wasn't touching you, I was clipping on my tie."

Malcolm complained. "While you were touching me."

Mom was ignoring me as she yelled at them. "Stop it!"

Reese complained back. "Why do we have to do this?"

Mom replied, after she told us the same thing before. "Because we don't have a single picture of us all together. That's ridiculous. We're a family. We should have a family portrait."

I was keeping quiet for now, but I spoke up. "Mom, I don't want to wear this!"

Mom rolled her eyes. That's not fair, I would've gotten in trouble for doing that. "Charlie, it's one time. Just deal with it right now."

I scowled at her. "I don't want to. I had to wear the same one to Grandpa's last week."

Mom sighed. "Just give it a rest. Stop pulling on it, Charlotte!"

I groaned. "Ugh!" I let go of the bottom of the purple knee length dress. _I hated this!_

Malcolm cut into our conversation. "If it's a family portrait, why isn't Francis here?"

Mom fixed her hair. "Well, I'm not gonna cough up 200 bucks to fly him in for one silly picture. Have any of you seen Dewey. Charlie, sit still." I whined as she went about fixing my hair to be neater. After I got away from her, I was amused to see Dewey taking pictures with other families. Mom noticed. "Dewey, get out of there-that's not your family."

Mom made him sit down and she went to talk to the photographer. I was slumped over with crossed arms in the chair next to Dewey. Dewey asked. "What's wrong with you?"

I scowled at him. "Shut it if you know what's good for you." He hear the mad tone and listened, staying quiet. I was sick of sitting and walked over to Malcolm and Reese fighting over a paper. "What are you moron's doing?" The paper ripped and they tackled each other. I figured they ruined the picture. I tugged at the collar of my dress. "Fine then, I'm changing." I went to walk back to the car.

Mom yelled. "That is it!"

I stiffened, turning around toward her. I knew the tone right away. _Oh boy, she's pissed. _

"Get up! Charlotte, get over here now and deal with the dress for five minutes! All of you come here!"

In unison, we all ran over to her side. "We are going to take this picture and it's going to be good. That means no faces, no tongues, no crossed eyes and no bunny ears. We are going to smile. We are going to look good. It is going to cost us $9.99. And all of this is going to happen by the time I count to three."

I felt my mouth drop when she finished. I was standing between Dad and Malcolm for the picture. Dewey, Reese and Mom were in front of us. I said. "That's not fair, you should at least-"

Malcolm and Reese were fight again, which stopped me from talking. I shoved Reese because he shoved into me. I didn't want to get involved in one of their fights. Dad was talking about the picture behind us. When we heard Mom's 'three', we froze and smiled at the camera. After the flash, we continued to argue. I think this was the last time Mom was going to make us do this. I still had one thing to say.

"Mom! Can I take the dress off now?"

/ / / / / /

Mom was going to a sleepover with Stevie tonight. I would have with Shelly, but I wasn't allowed to sleep at he place anymore. It was a prank gone back. For now, I was fully laying on the couch, watching T.V. _When in doubt, watch T.V. _ At least that's what Francis always said. I heard Reese in the kitchen.

I heard Malcolm say. "I'm going to Stevie's!"

I heard Mom say sternly. "You be nice to that boy. He can't walk. If he has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you get up and help him."

I smirked at that. "Yeah, Malcolm. Be a good boy."

Malcolm glared at me, backpack on his shoulder. "Shut up!"

I stuck my tongue out at his direction. "Make me." I wasn't really paying him any attention. I was more watching the T.V. "Ow!" I felt a pain on top of my head. Malcolm hit me on the head and ran out the door. "Mom, Malcolm hit me!"

"Maybe if you didn't antagonize your brother, he wouldn't." I huffed at her words, but didn't reply.

Reese called out. "Yes! There's a Chucky movie on tonight!"

Mom told him. "Not in this house." _Yeah, Dad hated those movies and I didn't really care, I didn't like scary movies either. _Mom went on to say. "You know how your father feels about evil puppet movies." _I called it. _

Reese pleaded. "Please, Mom. It's not even a school night. I can stay up."

Mom asked. "You really think you're old enough?"

Reese told her he was. Mom said. "If you really think so."

I sat up, snickering when I saw Mom's hand on the counter in the 'arm wrestling' position. She always won.

Reese complained. "Aw Mom, no fair."

I smirked as Mom teased. "What's the matter? Afraid you can't beat your mommy?" I smirked widened into a grin at her words.

Reese put his hand into hers. I knew what was going to happen, but I was amused anyway. I heard Reese repeat to himself. "She's just a person. She's just a person." _Yeah, right. _

Mom teased him again as his hand was pushing against hers. "Oh no, he's finally going to win."

Dad waved at me as he came in with glasses on and the paper. I waved back, still watching Mom and Reese. Dad looked over at Reese and Mom. "What's he playing for tonight?"

Mom replied. "Bedtime and a Chucky movie."

Dad frowned. "Stop screwing around and pin him." Mom smacked his arm down. Reese groaned. I laughed as Mom and Dad came toward the couch. I scooted toward the middle as they sat on either side of me. _Great, now their ruining my T.V time. _

Reese glared at me. "Shut up. You wouldn't win either."

I scoffed at him, even knowing he was right. "Still, in your face."

Mom sent me a _look _as Reese went to lunge at me when mom stopped him. "Charlie, leave him alone. Remote."

I had it clutched in my hand. "Wait-"

"Charlie. Now."

I handed it off, stepping off the couch. "Ugh, I 'm going outside." I went outside to lay on the bench.

I heard Mom call. "Don't go anywhere, Charlie."

I called back with an annoyed sigh. "I won't!" I was bored out of my mind. Even more bored with just laying there, I went inside to see Reese screaming for Dewey. Mom and Dad were close to each other on the couch. "Ew."

Mom turned to sent me another look. Dad was still faced toward the T.V. "Really, Charlie?"

I looked around. "What's Reese doing?" Mom explained he was putting Reese to bed so he could stay up late for the horror movie. I stared at them. We all knew how bad Dewey could get at bedtime. "That's cruel."

Dad suddenly kissed Mom on the cheek. "Honey, I love you."

I made a face. "Ew, I'm going in my room." I had a idea and grabbed the phone, shutting the door to my room. I could heard Reese and Dewey in the bathroom. I jumped onto my bed. I dialed the number into the phone. "Hello? I'm looking for Francis."

I heard the older guy say. "Francis? Sure, hold on, kid." I scowled a bit at that and heard him yell out. "Yo, Francis! The phone!"

I heard a bit of shuffling and then. "Hello?" I noticed his voice was a little bit panicked for some reason.

I said into the phone. "Hi, Francis."

"Oh hey, Dork. What's going on?" I told him about what's going on. About how bored out of my mind I was.

Francis laughed. "Go find something to do. I-" Francis let out a shriek. He was like Dad, he did that sometimes.

I frowned at the noise I heard from the phone. "Francis? Is that...chanting?"

Francis yelped. "Ah, crap! Got to go, Charlie!"

I was annoyed. "Hey, wait. Help-"

"I'll talk to you later, squirt!" I then heard the dial tone. "He hung up on me. Older brothers are stupid." I tossed the phone down on the bed. I didn't want to be stuck with Reese and Dewey. Mom and Dad were being gross. I left out the backdoor when nobody was looking, running over to Shelly's house.

/ / /

I was throwing rocks at Shelly's window I found on the ground. I really hope it didn't break through, but I had no other way to get her attention. The window slammed open and I saw Shelly's messy bed hair. "Charlie? What are you doing?!"

I waved her down. "Hey, come down."

"What? I'm not Juliet and your not Romeo. Nor am I Rapunzel either."

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. I'm not trying to climb your hair. I'm bored, let's go."

Shelly showed me both her hands, showing she needed ten minutes. I sent her a thumbs up. It was always 50/50 in times like this. Like she said, ten minutes later, she came down. "So, Charls, what are we doing?"

I grinned, hoping on my toes. "Arcade."

Shelly smiled at me. "Fine, let's go."

/ / / / /

To my shock when we got close, we saw Malcolm pushing Stevie fast on a rolling chair.

I called out. "Malcolm?!"

Shelly did the same. "Stevie?!"

Malcolm looked over at me, stopping the chair. "Charlie?"

Stevie stared at Shelly. "Michelle?"

I heard a noise from the chair and saw a wheel pop off and roll into the sewer. Shelly asked. "Where's his wheelchair."

Malcolm told her. "Someone from the arcade stole it. What are we gonna do now?"

Stevie said. "Carry...me...like a backpack."

I snorted. "Like Malcolm has the strength to do that."

Malcolm glared at me. "Shut up. This is your fault anyway."

That offended me. "How!?"

"If you didn't distract me-"

I scoffed loudly. "Oh please! What are you even-"

Malcolm was talking louder. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

I put my hands on my hips. "I was going to ask you that."

Malcolm was going to retort something, something I wouldn't be able to come back with, I just knew it.

Shelly yelled. "Malcolm! Charlie!"

We stopped arguing and turning toward her, turning away from each other. I then said. "Have fun."

Malcolm threw his arms up. "You're just gonna leave us here?"

I nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh, let's go Shell."

We went over to the arcade and played a bit. She asked. "Do you and your brothers even not argue?"

I laughed. "You've known my family for how long?"

She laughed with me. "True." I grinned as I bet Shelly in a motorcycle race, but she beat me in D_ance Revolution_.

As I walked with her to her house, she was quiet. She were at her front door and I nudged her. "What's up?"

She frowned, rubbing her eyes. I was getting worried. I asked. "Shell?"

Shelly looked at me in the eyes and I was shocked to see actually tears. I scowled, getting mad. "Michelle. Is someone hurting you? I'll kick their ass!"

She snorted a choked up laugh. "No, Dad's job."

The anger left and now I was confused. "What about it?"

Shelly took a deep breath. "I'm moving."

I gaped at her, horrified. "W-what?" I felt like I couldn't say anything else.

Shelly nodded silently. "I'm moving to Chicago in a month."

I sputtered out. "We live in California! That's too far."

I was beyond pissed off and facing Shelly who looked like she was about to cry, I ran off, ignoring her calls for my name.

/ / /

Not caring if my parents caught me, I stormed into the house. Dewey was sitting on the couch, watching Chucky and Reese was sleeping against the wall on the floor. I threw myself face first onto my bed. I could believe what she told me.

'_Shelly couldn't just leave me'. _


	7. Francis Escapes

Malcolm in the Middle

Francis Escapes

I woke up with a yell, my brother's on their beds next to mine. Mom opened up the blinds. She was saying something about the laundry, but I was too tired to listen to her. I wailed. "No!" She took my blanket and I groaned, curling up and shoving my face into the pillow.

"I'm taking breakfast off the table in 5 minutes." That had me awake as I rolled out of bed. Reese and Malcolm would eat it all of I didn't. It happened before.

/ / / / / / /

My brother were inside, but I laid there in bed. I didn't care. Shelley was _leaving _me, no matter what Mom said or did, I wasn't moving.

"Charlie! Get up!"

I screamed back. "No!"

"Charlotte!"

I yelled back. "Leave me alone!"

I heard Mom come in and I glanced over to see Mom come in, dish towel in hand. "Charlie, what's the problem? Get out of bed."

I scowled at her. "No. I told you to go away." I shoved my face back into the pillow. I yelped as a stinging smack hit the back of my thigh. "Ow!"

"Watch it, young lady." I felt her sit next to me. "Come on kid, what's wrong?"

I felt my eyes tear up. I sniffed. "Nothing."

"Charlie, hey, look at me." I rubbed the tears on the pillow. I turned to look at her. "There you go, what's going on with you?"

I let out a huff of fustration. "You're not going to leave until I tell you." It was a statement more than a question, knowing Mom the way I did.

I was right, when she sent me a look. "No."

I swallowed, twisting to sit next to her, putting my head down. "Shelly...is moving. She's goin' to...Chicago." I looked up to see her surprised and looked back down.

Mom stared. "What?"

I bit my lip hard. Mom sighed. "Oh, Charlie." Knowing I wasn't in trouble, I threw myself in her arms and cried in her chest. Her arms wrapped around me. "Listen, sometimes these things happen."

That was not what I wanted to hear. "I don't want her to!"

"I know, I know. Look at me." Mom pushed my shoulders back. "Charlie, look it hurts, but these things happen. You'll get through it."

I rubbed my eyes, sniffling again. I was happy my brothers weren't around. I would loose it when they made fun of me. "I...I don't want her to leave. It's not fair!"

Mom patted my cheek lightly, taking the towel and standing up. "I know, I know. Come eat something. You can't stay in here forever." I scowled again, but nodded. I was pretty hungry.

I was in sleeping shorts and a tank top. I went into the bathroom, making a face at my red nose and eyes. My brothers could not see me like this. I rubbed water on my face and eyes. 5 minutes later, I walked out, pouring myself a bowl of cereal.

I heard Malcolm ask. "Charlie?"

I said, my mouth full of churrios. "What?"

"Why do you look like you've been crying?"

I flushed red, stiffening up. "N-no! I'm not!"

Reese looked over and laughed. "You were! You big baby!"

I threw my body up, my chest puffed up. My fists were clenched. "You wanna fight, jerk!?"

Reese made a mocking face. "I might make you cry." I growled at him, about to jump on him. My older brother always knew how to make me madder than I was. He was an idiot.

"Boys! Leave your sister alone!"

Malcolm complained. "But, I didn't-"

Mom said in her sternest voice. "Now!" Reese and Malcolm grumbled, walking away into the t.v room . They weren't going to risk getting in trouble for something like that. I relaxed, for once I wasn't in trouble and Mom would make them leave me alone. I sat down, finishing my food.

"Hey, Kiddo." Dad came over and messed up my hair. I grunted out an answer, not wanting to talk. Mom must have told him. Dad patted my back, going into his room.

/ / / / / / / /

I walked around in a slump, sitting on the couch. Dewey was at a friend's house, Malcolm and Reese were outside, I could hear them fighting from in here. I didn't care as I just stared at the t.v. I don't even know what I was watching.

The phone rang and I picked it up. I said dully. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dork. It's Francis." He was talking quietly for some reason. I also knew he was talking to a girl he was obsessed with. But, then again, Francis was weird like that.

I asked. "What's up?"

"Hey, you think you can get the password for me?"

I sighed. "Seriously? Mom's seriously pissed about the bill, you know?"

"Why do you sound-look, I really need it. Please, can't you help your oldest brother out?"

I then felt myself getting mad. Here he was, complaining about some girl when I was going to loose my best friend _forever_. "Who cares about your stupid girlfriend?! You're stupid, I'm not giving you the code."

Francis snapped. "Charlie! Come on-"

I snapped back, getting mad at him. "No!"

"You little-" I hung up, huffing. If he was here, I know I'd pay for that. I didn't care.

/ / / / / / / /

I was woken up by a scream from my littlest brother and groaned. If it wasn't so funny at the time, I would've regreted scaring him with my other two brothers a couple of weeks ago, it was funny then, but not so much now. I sighed tiredly. "C'mon, dude!"

Dewey didn't seem to hear me, he just keep screaming louder. I could hear Malcolm and Reese groaning on either side of me. I knew Mom had to be coming in soon, she has been every night. I was right as the door opened quickly. "Oh, Sweetie, not again."

Dewey cried. "The monster! It tried to suck my brain out!"

Mom sighed. "Alright, I have had it! You three are banned from Nintendo." My shoulders relaxed in relief. We were already banned from Nintendo.

Malcolm and I said. "Okay."

Reese smirked. "We're already banned from Nintendo."

I heard Mom get up. "Alright, fine. Pillows."

I glared at Reese for having Mom come up with a new punishment, but I stared at her in shock. _Did she mean..._

Me and Reese both asked. "What?"

I stared as Mom snatched Reese's. "That's right. I'm taking your pillows." Reese whined. Mom said sternly. "That's right, hand them over." I wrapped my arms and legs around mine. _I wasn't giving it up. _Mom said sharply. "Charlie, give it here before I drag you out of bed." I yelped as it was taken out from under me. She took Malcolm's too. "I'm not getting up again. If the monster wants to suck out your brain, you let him take it and go back to sleep."

/ / / / / / /

I was walking out the back door. I saw Malcolm staring at something on the ground. I looked down and saw it was some stones making an arrow toward the woods out back. "What's that?"

Malcolm jumped a little, shrugging. "Stop that-I don't know."

I asked. "You wanna follow it?" Malcolm nodded. We stepped between loose boards in the fence. We then passed some bushes. Malcolm called out. "Hello?"

Suddenly, we were grabbed from behind. I squirmed around in panic. I hit behind me, feeling Malcolm doing the same thing. I heard a famillar grunt of pain. One that I knew. I got out of the grip and turned around to see a crappy looking Francis. I stared at him in disbelief. He looked tired, dirty and hungry. He wheezed. "Great job, you hit me in the nards." He was holding his junk with one hand and his throat with the other. He turned toward me. "And Dork? You had to hit me in the throat?"

I stared at him some more. "You grabbed us from behind!" He was supposed to be in Alabama, not California.

Malcolm cried out. "Forget about that! Francis! What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking control of my own destiny. I'm just have to pick up Bebe, and then we're gonna head off for Canada."

I blinked at his words. "You gonna visit grandma?" Malcolm said it at the same time. Francis didn't like her, none of us really did.

Francis had a piece of paper. "No! A different part of Canada! Some place wild where people don't have to destroy love because they don't understand it."

I was confused. "What are you going on about?"

Malcolm exclaimed. "You ran away from school!? Mom's really gonna kill you now."

I stepped backward in horror. "Oh God! You're dead."

I stepped back _as_ he came closer. "No, she won't because she won't know. Malcolm. Charlie, you can't tell anybody. I'm placing my life in both your hands here."

Malcolm made a face. "Did you roll around in something?" I wrinkled my nose, now that he mentioned it, I could smell something really bad coming from Francis.

Francis snapped. "Well, get used to it. Look, I need you to get Bebe to come see me tonight. Let it air out first. Charlie, I need you to get me some food. I haven't eaten in 36 hours."

Malcolm said, as I stayed silent as I looked at Francis. "Francis, this sounds drastic. Even for you." I nodded in agreement, this was crazy even for him.

"Malcolm. Charlie. I do not have time for doubt. The dye has been cast, my future has been set-"

I waved my arms frantically. "Woah! Woah! Just get back to school before they notice you're gone!"

Francis grabbed mine and Malcolm's shoulders. "There's no time for that. Now, can I trust you two?" He interrupted our sputtering. "Can I?"

I winced at his look and nodded my head, sighing. "Fine!" He was still our older brother, we just had to help him. Plus I noticed the look on my oldest brother's face. We didn't really have a choice.

Malcolm nodded too. "Yeah, yes. Definitely."

I was gonna follow Malcolm out, but yelped at the smack to the back of my head. "Ow!"

"You think I was going to let that crap on the phone slide? Go on." He pushed me toward Malcolm. I stumbled a little, rubbing the back of my head. _Ow, that hurt!_ I grumbled as I walked toward Malcolm.

Malcolm looked at me as we walked back. "What's that about?"

I was still rubbing my head. "I snapped and hung up on him when he was asking for the phone code."

Malcolm gave me a surprised look. "If it wasn't for the situation, would've been more."

I nodded in agreement, making a face. "I know."

Malcolm said. "Mom can't find out."

I grimaced. "We'll all be dead." By the look on Malcolm's face, he agreed.

/ / / / / / / /

When school started, I avoided Shelly. I couldn't deal with seeing her. She tried to see me once, but after the first time I hid ran from her, she stopped. I felt bad by the look of hurt, but ignored it. This was the best way. She was the one moving.

/ / / / / / /

I was starving by the time dinner hit. Me and Malcolm gave Francis our lunch. If I was still talking to Shelly, I knew she would've gave me half of her's. I would've told her about the situation with Francis already. I can keep secrets, but this one was driving me crazy. But I wasn't talking to her, so I didn't.

I was sitting between Dad and Dewey. Malcolm was between Reese and Mom. I was scarfing down my food. Mom looked happy enough, which meant she heard nothing about Francis. She said. "Gosh, I had such a good day at work today. I got to work the Cash Only line for the first time in a month. And my register came out to the penny. Plus, that creepy new assistant manager sliced his hand open with a box cutter, spent the whole day in the Emergency Room."

Dad grinned. "Here's to him." Holding his drink up, he said. "Honey, this chicken is absolutely delicious."

Mom got up for more juice from the fridge. "Oh, it's a little recipe I came up with. Shake and bake, but for pork."

I was barely listening to the conversation. Dad said. "How about that, that's one for the recipe box. Let's call it...Chork! All in favor?"

If I wasn't so worried about Francis and Shelly, I would've raised hands with my two brothers or be grossed out by my parent's flirting (It was still gross).

Dewey asked. "Will this make me taste better for the monsters?"

Dad said, sounding distracted. "Sure it will, son."

I looked up at the clang. Reese said. "You haven't had a bite in two minutes, I counted."

I looked over to see Reese trying to steal Malcolm's potatoes (ones he was no doubt leaving for Francis). Malcolm said. "I'm saving it." I grimaced, he should know that's a stupid thing to say in this family.

Reese called out. "There is no saving!"

Dad replied. "Malcolm, he's right. The rule is...no saving."

Malcolm licked his hands, putting them on his food. Reese scoffed. "Like I care." I just watched, chucking a small potato at Reese's head for fun.

Dad pointed at me. "Charlie, don't throw food. You'll make your mother mad." I just smiled at him.

"FRANCIS DID WHAT!?"

My spine stiffened ramrod straight and I felt my face pale. I shared a look with Malcolm. My look said: Well, she knows. Malcolm sent me a look back that said, 'Well Duh'. Because of situation, I forced myself not to fight him.

Dewey and Reese continued to eat. This usually happened all the time. The thing is, me and Malcolm knew about it this time. Plus, they didn't know how bad this was this tine, not like me and Malcolm did.

Mom was pacing back and forth angrily. "That kid! That kid thinks he can run away from school like some kind of escaped convict? If he thinks he can vanish into the night and I won't find him. Well, he is sadly mistaken!"

Dad got up and went to Mom. "Lois, you need to calm down. There's nothing we can do right now."

"Yes, there is! I can call the police."

Dad said calmly. "There not going to look for anybody unless their missing for 48 hours."

Mom was looking kind of crazy. "What if I say he has drugs on him." I was alarmed at that. Would she do that?

Dad made her stop and sit. He needed to calm down her down, so she didn't call the cops on him. Dad said. "Lois, stop it. You just have to accept the fact for now this is beyond your control. Francis is going to have to sink or swim on his own. Which frankly, I don't think is such a bad thing. In the meantime, we have to leave it up to fate."

Mom scoffed. "Fate? Fate is just what you call it when you don't know the name of the person screwing you over."

I tried to make it look like I was ignoring them and eat my food. During this conversation between our parents, me and Malcolm were sending each other panicked looks. Malcolm said to Mom. "Mom, I'm sure Francis is okay."

I stiffened as our parents looked at him. Dad was sending him a suspicous look. "Why do you think he's okay, son?"

My eyes were wide. _Oh no, they caught on! _Malcolm shrugged nervously. "Because he's always okay."

Dad said. "Malcolm, this is a very serious situation here. And I know you love Francis as much as we do. So, if you have any idea-"

I jumped in my seat as Mom screamed. "Oh, for God's sake! Where is he? And don't think I didn't notice the looks between you two, Charlotte!"

I winced, I was trying to act like I knew nothing and she still caught me. Mom was staring down Malcolm and I realized Dad was doing the same thing to me. Sure, he wasn't scary like Mom, but from his look, I forced myself not to squirm in my seat.

Malcolm yelled out. "He came here to see Bebe! He's meeting her tonight!"

Malcolm looked horrified. If he didn't say it, I knew Mom would've made me. She just seems to have that power. I'd like to think I'd last longer. Mom jumped up. "I knew it. When did you talk to him?"

Mom grabbed his chin, making him yell out quickly. "This morning! And Dewey shoved a sandwich in the VCR." I switched a glare to my littlest brother. _Great, now none of our movies will work._

Mom slid a hand down her face. "My God! Where does that boy think he's going?"

I palled, staring at the ceiling as she made eye contact with me. "Uh..."

"Charlotte Wilkerson! Answer me!"

I felt myself sweat as I squawked out. "Canada! He's gonna run with her to Canada!" _In that moment, I hated myself._

Mom yelled. "Are you kidding me! Malcolm, Charlotte! Where is he right now?" I was frozen, Malcolm had to come up with something. Some sort of lie or something. If we came up with two different answers, me, Malcolm and Francis were done for.

Malcolm shouted out. "Delancey Park! By the soccer field." At Mom's look, I nodded rapidly in agreement. _Francis was going to kill us._

Mom said, fake calmly. "Well, I'll just see what fate has in store for Francis." I rubbed my forehead as Mom went on. When we left the table, we made sure nobody was looking at us, we made a break for it.

At this time, it was pitch black outside. We ran up to Francis, who was sitting. I stopped, putting my hands on my knees, breathing heavy. Malcolm did the same thing next to me, wheezing out. "Francis! I have to tell you-"

"Is Bebe coming?"

I looked over at Malcolm, I never actually met the girl. Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, but I have to tell you something first."

Malcolm nudged me and I nudged him back harder. No way was I taking the heat for this one. Malcolm glared at me, but took a deep breath, saying to Francis. "I ratted you out to Mom."

Francis yelled. "WHAT?!"

"I didn't mean to! Mom did-her eyes-her voice-I didn't mean to!"

Francis was pissed. "Malcolm, how could you do that?"

Malcolm then blurted out. "Charlie told Mom you were planning on moving to Canada."

I winced at being betrayed. "Malcolm!"

Francis glared at me, exclaiming. "Charlie! Are you kidding me?! You ruined any future planning. I trusted the both of you."

I looked away._ He was right. We betrayed him to Mom and Dad. We were crap siblings._

Malcolm sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. Look, I sent her to the park. You have an hour to get out of here before-" I thought it was a good plan, but Francis stopped him.

Francis sent him a look. "Are you crazy?! I can't go anywhere. Bebe is coming. Bebe." His voice was softer at the end. My eldest brother was using an old rag to...clean himself?

Me and Malcolm shared a look. He told me about Bebe. She sounded like an idiot and Francis was not acting like himself. We all knew you did stupid stuff and risked getting in trouble, but this risk didn't seem worth it.

Malcolm yelled. "What is wrong with you?! Why are you getting in so much trouble for her?" I could agree on that, it didn't make any sense.

Francis grumbled. "You don't understand."

Malcolm yelled again. "Duh, no one understands! She's not nice. She's not smart. She's a thief and not even that good looking. And guess what else, she treats you like crap!"

I frowned, zoning in on that bit of information. "What?" I was feeling a bit angry now.

Francis said lowly. "I know."

We both stared at him. "Huh? You do?"

"Of course I do. There's something you don't know about Bebe."

I asked, a bit confused on why he liked a girl like that. "When then?"

"No one in her whole life ever loved her the way I do. All she has to do is see that and everything will change. Look, Malcolm, Charlie, you'll understand when your older. Just go." I couldn't help the annoyed look that came to my face. I hated it when people said that.

Malcolm went back toward the house, but I hesitated. "Francis..."

Francis glanced up at me and nodded his head toward the trees leading to the house. "Go on, Dork." He didn't seem mad, I was worried about that. But, I knew nothing I said would change his mind.

I huffed. "Fine, good luck." I walked off, seeing Dewey sitting on the swing, facing the trees and looking scared. I shrugged, for some reason, he always seems scared of something. I stood off to the side. I didn't know what I was waiting for, but I didn't want to go back in yet.

A couple of minutes later, I heard Francis scream really loudly and I jumped back in surprise. Then he did it some more, he sounded like he was in pain. I scowled as I realized Bebe must of did something to him. I ignored Dewey yelling. "Get out of here, monster!"

I stormed after where I saw a girl who must of been Bebe walking away. She was in front of the house. She was shorter than Francis with dark eyes and hair in a messy ponytail. Malcolm was right, she wasn't that good looking, a bit pretty, but that was it. She looked a little confused, but that seemed like a normal expression for her. I called out. "Hey!" I ran over until I was in front of her.

She blinked as she looked down at me. "Uh...hi."

I scowled deeper at her. "What did you do to Francis?"

Bebe looked around, looklng even more confused if that was possible. "Oh, we just broke up. It was just...too much work, that's all."

Malcolm was right. She was really dumb. But I was more pissed at what she said. Francis made her such a big deal, but she acted like it was nothing. And my brother didn't really act like that. She made him like that. I glared at her. "That's all?!" I shoved her, punching her hard in the face when I could reach it. She yelled out, falling over on her feet.

Bebe rubbed her face. "Ow, what's wrong with you?"

I winced, shaking my hand hard. My knuckles were stinging pretty bad, but it was worth it. Looking at my hand, I could see the deep red at the knuckles. At least I didn't break it. I pointed at her with my hurt hand. "That's for hurtin' Francis. No one's allowed to hurt my brother." Not any of my brother unless they truly deserve it. Believe it or not, she still looked confused with that red mark on his face. I said before she could say anything. "Now get away from my house." She still rubbed where I hit her, but she did leave.

She probably felt like it was too much work. That pissed me off and I huffed in annoyance. I felt a bit proud that I hit her, defending Francis. I walked back into the house.

/ / / / / /

Dad, Dewey and Reese were in the t.v room. Reese and Dad were talking about the last level of Mortal Kombat. I scoffed at Reese saying he could beat the level Sub Zero.

Reese sent me a look. "What? I could!"

I shook my head. "Nah, no one could beat Sub Zero."

Dad chuckled. "See, told you."

Me and Reese made faces at each other. I stuck out my tongue and darted into our room before he could deck me. I shut the door and heard. "-farm girls, some thing I'll check out."

I blinked in surprise and then I smirked. That sounded like Francis. I said. "Hey."

Francis stopped talking and looked over. "Hey, Dork." He was strattling the windowsill.

Malcolm looked over at me, but then looked back at Francis. "Wait. Sorry, I ratted you out. I just got scared."

I walked over until I ran over to Malcolm's side. I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too."I felt guilty about it, we were sibling with each other. Usually it was us against our parents.

Francis smiled. "It's ancient history. Don't worry about it."

Malcolm stepped forward. "Well, can you at least hit me or something? So, I can at least feel like we're even."

I stepped backward. _No way! He hits way too hard._ I didn't feel that guilty. Did Malcolm forget had hard he punches?

Francis looked amused. "You want me to hit you?"

Malcolm looked down and shrugged. "I don't know...yeah." Francis looked over at me and I shook my head rapidly in the negative.

Francis smiled again. "Okay." He tapped his shoulder. I knew that wasn't it. I was right as Francis gave him a proper punch. I winced, that looked like it hurt. Francis smirked. "Sike. Now we're even." Malcolm groaned, rubbing his arm.

I thought Francis was going to leave, but he nodded his head at me. "Now, what's with you?" I was going to deny it, but at his look, I explained the situation with Shelly. At this time, Malcolm went back into the t.v room. Francis stared at me for a moment, his face twisting in disbelief. I yelped as he punched me hard in the arm. "You idiot!"

I hissed out in pain, rubbing my arm. "Ow! Francis, what was that for? Snitching on you?"

Francis rolled his eyes. "That did annoy me, but no. Ignoring her isn't going to help, idiot. She's gonna go and your not going to get to talk to her. Stop avoiding her 'fore it's too late."

I frowned at him, knowing he was right. "But..." I stopped as he raised a threatening fist. I nodded my head. "...yeah, yeah. I know." I already knew I would regret it later, but I couldn't help it.

Francis then chuckled, ruffling my hair. "See ya, Dork."I was a little embarrassed and about to say something, but he then hopped out the window. I knew he would be fine. We jumped out of the window alot. I went back to my bed. I had a lot of stuff to think about.

/ / / / /

Francis has been calling me a dork for as long as I can remember. The earliest I can remember was when I was eight. Malcolm was only seven and Dewey was only two with Reese being nine and Francis was 12. Francis was in the seventh grade, so he was out a lot. I couldn't even think about going to a different school. I just started school three years ago. Malcolm was pretty smart and he started it 2 years ago.

Anyway, I was playing a card game called Pokemon with some boys I knew from school. When we were playing kickball or another sports game, we played. Billy, one of the older kids at the age of 10, let me have some of his old cards, so we played.

Well, one time, we were all playing at the park on the grass. We were all sitting in a circle. It was me, Billy (who has dark hair and eyes), Jake (who had hair as blond as Francis), Randy (who had dark skin with curly brown hair) and Chris (who was tan with black hair and green eyes). We usually played cards together.

"Hey, Charlie!"

I looked up to see Francis walked over with his hands in his pockets. His hair was getting longer, it looked like a curly mess. And he was also getting red dots all over his face, he called it ache. I waved at him. "Hey, Francis!"

Billy looked over. "That's your brother?"

I nodded. "Uh-huh."

Randy was amazed. "Wasn't he the one that jumped 's fence?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah! I heard he even stole a sign of his fence and he has a nasty beast of a dog."

I grinned at that. "Yeah, that's true. My brother is the best. Hey, I could do it."

They all said at the same time. "No, you can't!"

I huffed up, annoyed. "Yes, I can! Just wat-"

"So, what are you kids doing?"

Jake waved his Pokemon cards, making sure not show us his hand. Chris did that last week. Francis leaned over me, placing a hand on my head for balance. I called out, trying to shake him off. "Hey!"

"Stop squirming around." I glared at my friends as they tried not to laugh. He burst into laughter. "Pokemon! You're such a nerd!"

The boys with me were glaring at him and voicing their protests. I shoved him off my head. "Francis! Get out of here. You're annoying."

I winced at the smack to the back of my head. "Whatever...you dork." He suddenly laughed. "Imma call you that, see ya Dork."

I made a face at him. "Ugh, you suck. Don't call me that." Francis walked off.

Randy told me. "Dude, you're brother sucks." The others nodded in agreement.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yeah, I know. Come on, let's play."

I thought the name would stop, but he continued with it. It annoyed me and I fought with him over it. But he kept at it. Over the years, it was normal and he called me that more than my name. But on my next birthday, he got me a deck of new Pokemon cards.

/ / / / / /

Guest: Yeah, this chapter is longer, but I won't give up on it.


	8. Krelboyne Picnic

** Wilkerson's Sister **

** Krelboyne Picnic**

** Chapter 8**

**marioninthemiddle: I actually thoughts about the boys different traits and what they get from their Mom. Charlie is a lot like Hal and the boys, while being her own person. They're alike and their different. I always found it funny as I wrote her, that she's not girly and proper like Lois would've imagined having a girl to be. **

**As for my updating schedule, depends what I feel like writing or my time since I work alot. Hopefully one or two chapter a months since I have other stories I'm writing. I'm glad you like it so much. Let me know what you think of this one.**

I was sleeping, snuggled up into my pillow. I stayed up late last night, watching something past my bed time until Mom caught me. I was lucky she was too sleepy to ground me. I then heard a crash and Dewey complaining.

I shut my eyes again, trying to get back to sleep before I was dragged out of bed. Malcolm then shouted. "Get the fire extingusher."

Curious, I stumbled out of bed in my PJ's and walked out to see the microwave on fire and Dewey's lip bleeding. He said. "Blood tastes funny." For some reason, there was a squirrel in the house on the kitchen table. I shrugged as Dewey's lip wasn't bleeding too badly and the fire wasn't extreme.

I moved around the table with a yawn, getting a Poptart from the cabinet.

"Ah! What did you kids do?!" _That was Dad._

I was annoyed that I was being lumped in with them when I didn't do anything. "Hey! It wasn't me. I just woke up."

Reese was trying to smack the fire out, yelping when it burned him instead. Dewey was chasing the squirrel off the table with a bloody mouth as Malcolm was hunting down our fire extingusher still. I don't know what happened to it since we didn't replace it from the fire from last week.

Dad was panicked. "Ah! Boys-what!?" They all started blaming each other and pointing. I just walked around them and poured myself some juice. I went into the T.V room and sat on the couch, turning on the T.V.

I turned up the T.V the louder their yells got.

/ / / / / / / / /

I was dragging my feet tiredly, sitting on my bed. It was Saturday morning and I was already dressed in jeans and a shirt with a baseball on it. We had to go to Malcolm's Nerd Picnic and he was still asleep. Francis was here and instead of something cool, we were going to school on a _Saturday morning. _

I was about to get up and rudely wake him up, but Reese beat me to it when he came in our room. Reese told me with a smirk. "Wait, Charlie, I got this." I smirked back at him. _It was gonna be good. _

Reese whispered. "Malcolm...Malcolm." I watched in anticipation as Malcolm opened up his eyes to see Reese crouched down in front of him.

I winced as Reese punched Malcolm in the face. He's done that to me. _Boy, does it hurt._

Malcolm rolled over, whimpering and holding his face. "Ow! Ow! How is that even fair?!"

Reese snapped. "That's for all of us having to go to your Krelboyne Picnic today."

Malcolm snapped as Reese left the room. "You think I want you to go?"

I stopped feeling bad, coming over and smacking him on the back of his head. He winced. "Ow! Charlie, why?!"

I ignored his whining, sending him an annoyed look. "For making us go to _school _on a Saturday." I mean, I've been to Saturday Detention before, but not like this. I think it's worse than detention. Surrounded by whining kids who think the wind hurts.

He grabbed his throbbing head and face. "I told you it's not my fault!"

I stepped over Francis sleeping on the airbed on the floor. "I don't care, it sucks."

I walked out of the room and Malcolm yelled back. "You suck!"

I snorted, deciding not to go back in there to hit him again. Francis is a pain when he gets woken up. And I still didn't tell him about not making up with Shelly (even if it's been a month already). He's kick my ass.

I heard Malcolm gagging and smirked to myself. _That was never going to work. We tried it so many times. _

I sat at the table with my brothers and Malcolm was just coming to the table. I saw Francis come into the room, sitting down tiredly.

Mom said. "I don't understand why you don't want to go to this picnic, Malcolm?"

I huffed, pressing my arms over my chest. "It's because it's so lame."

I made a face when Mom smacked the back of my head. "Charlie, leave your brother alone." _I didn't even see her. _I grumbled under my breath, but stopped at the look she sent me. It wasn't worth it.

Dad said. "You're mom's right, Charlie. I mean, sitting on the grass and eating barbeque."

Malcolm sounded annoyed from where he was sitting next to me (though he scooted as far as he could from me). "It's Krelboyne's, so half of them are allergic and don't expect any meat either, because they all voted not to serve anything that ever had a mother."

I made a face, but hid it from Mom this time. Dewey said. "Cousin Nancy doesn't have a mother." _Oh yeah, she had two gay dads. _

Mom smiled at him. "That's right, she has two daddies."

Reese grinned. "Two guys as your parents. That's gotta be a dude's paradise." Me, Francis and Malcolm just stared at him. _Yeah, that's not how it works._

Dad said. "You know there's heard to be benefits to the vegetarian lifestyle. In fact, I was considering it myself." It was funny, he was saying this as he speered a sausage on his fork. I wouldn't even think about it. I love burgers and hot dogs too much.

Mom said. "It will be nice to meet the other parents. I bet their much better than those carnival freaks in Reese's class. Or the judgemental parents in Charlie's, a bunch of horrible people." Mom wasn't wrong. Most of the parents from my class think we're crazy or stupid. But I also knew Krelboyne parents suck. I seen one of their Mom's (a kid with dark hair and glasses) yanking him out of class, yelling about how her son was in grave danger. I would've died of embarrassment.

Dad agreed with Mom. "Amen to that."

I whispered to Malcolm, already seeing how boring and lame this Saturday was going to be. "What are we going to eat?" I didn't want to be hungry and bored.

Malcolm whispered back, making a face. "Probably plant based stuff."

I sent him a glare. "I hate you."

Francis stood up. "This sounds like a blast to me. Why do I have to go again?"

I raised a hand. "Or me?" I grimaced when Francis gave me a hard flick in the back of the head, shushing me.

I was met with Mom's hard stare. She seemed to stare at both me and Francis at the same time. "Because it's a family picnic, Francis and you are a member of this family. Charlotte! Stop trying to get out of it and be positive."

I sighed, but didn't say anything back. I wanted to say she couldn't make me be positive, but held my tongue.

By the look on Francis' face (a look I've seen since he was my age), I knew he was going to say something sarcastic. I wondered if they'd fight and we wouldn't have to go.

Francis was pouring some milk by the counter. "Oh, I just keep on forgetting that. Being forced to live a 1,000 of miles away at military school an' all."

Mom said brightly. "Well, I can't wait to see this academic circus. It'll be cute."

_Or lame._

Malcolm sounded fustrated. "It's not a circus! It's a bunch of social misfits doing a bunch of weird stunts to show off how smart they are."

Mom said. "What's your weird stunt, Honey?" I blinked and looked over at Malcoolm, curious.

Malcolm said quickly. "Just some lame thing. Nothing you want to see." Me and Reese shared a grin, it sounded like he was embarrassed. Malcolm went to Francis, who was pouring cearal. He whispered something, but he sounded like he was pleading. After we finished eating, Mom cleaned up the table and then we left the house (after Mom finished screaming at Dewey to put some clothes on).

Reese shoved me as we walked out. "Move out of the way, dweeb."

I shoved his bed, glaring. "Don't push me, jerk." Francis laughed at us, but stayed where he was, not getting involved.

Mom pushed between us before Reese could shove me back. "No, not today. Charlie and Reese, you two seperate."

I was annoyed, Reese was the one that started it. Me and Reese spoke at the same time. "But-"

"No butts! Let's go before we're late!" Reese and Malcolm sat next to each other while I sat next to Dewey and Francis in the back. I was tense, I didn't want him to ask about Shelly. Francis sent me a weird look at my nervousness, but shrugged and looked out the window in boredom.

We got there and I flinched at the enterance. It was Miss Caroline and she had intense make up on. She was greeting everyone. "Welcome! Welcome one in all! Run away with us and join the circus. The Academic Circus!"

Malcolm groaned. Oh no, my teacher." I snickered at his pain. I would act the same way if _she _was my teacher too. I stared back with the rest of the family when she came over to Malcolm, holding his arms. "Malcolm, thank goodness. I was so worried, I had a dream you didn't come and I was being chased by big, but invisible-nevermind. You're here and that's all that matters."

I whispered as she bent down to talk to Dewey. "What _is _that act of yours anyway?" Whatever it was, she sounded like she depended on him a lot.

Malcolm hissed. "Stop asking me that." Dewey hid behind Dad's leg and then we walked inside the circus.

Mom saw some of the Krelboyne's. "Aw, look at your friends." All the Krelboyne's were huddled together.

Malcolm said quickly. "There not my friends, just a bunch of geeks and losers." I laughed as they cheered his name and stuck a pin on his shirt.

We all separated from Mom and Dad. Francis was grinning. I was standing with them as they did a cheer for Malcolm. I opened my mouth to say something, but Malcolm pointed harshly in my face. "Don't. Say. Anything." I smirked at him, but decided to stop for now. Plus, Mom would kill me for starting a fight here. He then turned to Francis, pleading. "We're getting out of here in fifteen minutes, right?"

_I looked over, I wanted to get in on that action._

Francis made a face. "Make it ten-Hey, look. It's Michelle." I froze in complete horror and Malcolm laughed at my reaction, most likely getting his revenge. He waved at her and she waved back. She saw me and darted off.

Francis scratched the back of his blond head. "Huh, that's weird. You'd think you both would get along now that you made-Charlie!"

My eyes widened and I went to run off, but groaned when Francis grabbed the back of my shirt, stopping me. I said. "Let go!"

"Did you seriously not say anything after I talked to you." It was scary, but he sounded like Mom.

I squirmed in his hold. Malcolm was being completely silent. I said. "C'mon, I didn't want-she's leaving-it doesn't matter."

I winced as he punched me in the arm with his older hand. _Ow, he needs to stop doing that everytime we do something he doesn't like. _"Ow, that hurt!"

"I'll kick your butt and it'll hurt way more." I knew he wasn't lying. He literally kicked my butt toward Shelly's direction and let go of me.

I jumped, but ran toward her before he could continue to do the threat. _He was so annoying. _I looked around to see Mom surrounded by the other Krelboyne Mom's, Dad around the grill with the Dad's Dewey disappeared somewhere and Reese was being chased by a older nerd.

I then saw Shelly's back. "Hey, Shelly! Wait up!"

I thought she would keep on going, but stopped short. Which was good because I didn't want to chase her all over the place. We were standing off to the side. We saw some girl doing something on a theorem with three boards behind her with gibberish on it. Nobody was paying attention to her.

A wary look was on Shelly's face. I felt bad that I put it there. It hurt my chest. "What is it, Charlie?" I frowned at her cold tone, but figured I deserved it. Thinking it over since Francis talked to me, I realized as bad as I felt, Shelly felt just as bad. We've known each other for years.

I raised my hands. "Look, I want to apologize for ignoring you-"

Her hard voice interrupted me. "I leave in 2 weeks, Charlie."

I winced, scratching the back of my head. "Yeah, that's quick."

Now, this time, Shelly was frowning at me. "It would've been about two months."

I nodded in agreement, feeling my cheeks flush red. I didn't feel bad often, but when I did, Shelly was usually involved. "Yeah, I know. But, Shelly, Listen..." She gave me a expectant look, but I completely froze. The words I wanted to say was stuck in my throat.

Her face looked annoyed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well?"

I sputtered for a moment. I'm never this unsure. But Shelly was looking more annoyed, so I blurted out. "Shelly, I miss you! I don't-I don't want you to go!"

She dropped her arms, her face softening like I knew it would when I apologized. "Charlie, I know you don't like admitting things like that. But, it hurt me too, you know?'

_I did know. _"'m sorry." Shelly sighed, throwing her arms around me. I hugged her back. The rest of my family isn't this mushy, Shelly's the exception for me. I said again. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Charls. I'll give you my new number. Try to come for the summer." It was nice to hear the nickname she always calls me. She never calls me Charlie unless she's serious or mad at me.

I let go. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Well, I babysit one of the kids. He asked me to come and I had nothing better to do. You guys here because of Malcolm?"

I nodded, complaining that we had to be here so early. Shelly laughed at me. "Who made you talk to me?"

I gave her a offended face. "I could've came on my own."

Shelly sent me a dry look. "Yeah, you would've been dragging your feet."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Fine, Francis did."

Shelly nodded with a smile. "See."

I waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah." It felt good to be back to normal with her. I was getting hungry. "You want food?"

Shelly raised her eyebrows. "You're not gonna want any of that. There's no meat."

I snorted. "Like my Dad didn't bring any."

Shelly told me. "That's not going to end well."

I shrugged. "Probably not. Let's go."

/ / / / / / / /

We went to Dad, who around and smiled. "Hey, Charlie. Michelle."

Shelly gave a short wave and I grinned back at him, in a happy mood. "2 burgers, Dad." I interrupted him before he could reach for that fake meat crap. "_Real_ meat."

Dad started to sweat. "W-what? Uh, only tofu here, kiddo."

I gave him a deadpanned look. Give us the meat or I'll tell Mom what you're doing."

Dad grimaced, flinging his arms up. "Oh, fine! You got a deal."

I smirked smugly as he gave us plates with _real _burgers on it. "Thank you." Shelly giggled a little under her breath.

We walked away a bit and Shelly said. "Oh, I miss you're Dad's barbeque."

I said. "You'll miss it more when you leave."

Shelly glared waringly. "_Charlie." _

I made a face at her. "Sorry."

Suddenly, all the Krelboyne's around us started screaming. I listened to what they were saying. "Ah, we're eating meat!" They all started choking and spitting it out while screaming.

I laughed. "That's lame-Shelly?!" She ran off and knelt down by some brown haired boy grabbing his throat. I rolled my eyes and looked around. "Damn." Mom was arguing with the other Mom's, Dad disappeared after the whole meat problem, Reese was still being chased by that older boy, Dewey, Malcolm and Francis disappeared somewhere and now even Shelly disappeared on me. It was getting kind of exciting.

Suddenly, a explosion went off in front of me. I wondered if it was Dewey, Malcolm or Francis. I was kind of curious, but I didn't go near it.

/ / / / / /

The paramedics were called. Aparentlly, whatever it was, was too dangerous. They checked me over and I wondered off. I was looking for Shelly again, but couldn't find her. I saw Francis setting with a girl his age with red hair on a bench, but they were arguing. Nothing his anger, I went somewhere else. I saw Malcolm looking around surprised at the chaos. His teacher was crying. I noticed the look on Malcolm's face, he did it.

I walked over to him. "So, it was you?"

Malcolm jumped. "Ah! Stop that, Charlie!"

His teacher ran off somewhere and Malcolm made a face. "Aw, man."

"You're the one who exploded the fair-ow!" I rubbed my arm where he punched me.

"You don't have to say that. Ugh, just leave me alone."

He walked off and I noticed Francis was by himself. With nothing else to do, I sat next to him. "Hey, Francis."

He was staring at the table, but looked up when I came over. "Hey, Dork."

Malcolm came over and sat next to me on the table. He then asked Francis. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Francis groaned. "Yes, all woman suck."

I huffed. "Hey."

Francis pushed the side of my head with his hand. "Shut up."

Malcolm said, shaking his head. "You'd still like me, even if you found out I was a freak, right? And the family wouldn't treat me any different, right?"

I gave him a strange look. He was being weird. Francis sighed. "Dude, we already know you're smart."

I nodded in agreenment. "Seriously, why we'd change now, I don't know. We know you're a Krelboyne."

Malcolm argued. "Yeah, but...nevermind. Just don't say I didn't warn you." He hopped up and walked off. I asked. "What was that about."

Francis shrugged. "I don't know. You talk to Michelle?"

I grimaced at the glare he gave me. "Yeah, yeah. We're good now."

He messed up my hair. "Good."

The other Krelboyne's started yelling about Malcolm 'doing' it. Whatever that was. The teacher even screamed at everyone to shut up. I get the whole feeling like a freak cause I wasn't girly like the other girls in my class. It was annoying to deal with, but what could he be talking about?

I watched as he went up to the stage. Mom and Dad came over from one direction and sat with us. Shelly came from the other direction. "Hey, Charls."

I smiled at her. "Hey." Shelly then flinched and I saw Mom giving her one of her stares. I whispered. "Look away. Malcolm's gonna do 'his' thing."

Everyone was watching him. Malcolm said. "Can someone please show me some credit cards?" Two adults showed him theirs. Malcolm looked away. "Okay, the numbers on them are: 369974126839140 and 3424180418353668."

One of the adults turned around. "He's right!"

Shelly gasped. "Woah..."

I stared at him on the stage. I mean, I knew Malcolm had a good memory...At this point, everyone was watching him. Malcolm closed his eyes. "Okay, If you add the individual digits on each card you get 74 and 66. If you multiply those numbers, you get 4,884."

One of the Mom's asked. "How do we even know he's right?!"

I glared in her direction, why is she being a jerk? One of the redheaded Krelboyne's raised a calculator. "Oh, he's right." People were clapping again. Mom and Dad were smiling as me and Francis just stared.

Malcolm stared. "400,800 equaled squared is 23,853,426. The square root of 4,884 is 69 and 885/1,000. The square root of that is 8 and 3,597/10,000."

My jaw was dropped as I stared at him. "Holy Crap." Mom was so shocked, I didn't even get in trouble. Stevie shouted. "Factor it!"

"The factors are 232 and 73."

Another Krelboyne called. "Multiply it by Pi."

Malcolm said. "26 and 261/1000."

"Cube it!"

Malcolm said back. "584 and 214/1,000."

"What's the Arc Tangent?"

"89 and 9/10 degrees."

The same kid called out. "Natural Law!"

Malcolm had the answer in one second. "6 and 3,669/10,000."

The teenager who was chasing Reese asked. "The reciprocal?"

"17/10,000."

"In base eight?'

"11,431."

The boy in glassed asked. "What's the capital of Iceland?"

"Reykjavik-but, that's not math."

Everyone was clapping, but I was quiet. Shelly said. "You're brother is a genius."

I nodded slowly, seeing him look at us. I couldn't believe he was this smart. I mean, I grew up with him. I didn't even understand half the stuff he was talking about. Why is he talking about pie in math. _Ew, I hope that's not a real thing. _I didn't want math to ruin pie for me.

/ / / /

I said bye to Shelly and waited with my family in the car. We were just waiting on Malcolm. I was sitting with Francis and Dewey in the middle while Reese was in the back. Reese was telling us a story and Dewey was turned toward him. Suddenly, the door opened and Malcolm was in the back with Reese. It was suddenly quiet and I didn't want to be the one to break it.

Dewey then asked. "Is Malcolm a robot?" I jumped and Malcolm was staring at the van floor.

Dad turned around. "No, son. He's just smart. Very, very, very, very, very smart."

Francis then said. "Hey, Malcolm." He held up a couple of fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

I snorting, laughing with everyone else.

Malcolm grinned, embarrassed. "Shut up."

Reese burped in his face. "Analyze what I had for lunch."

Malcolm turned away. "Get off me, you moron."

I shoved his shoulder with a grin. "Hey, as a complete and utter nerd, can you read my mind?"

He shoved me away. "That's stupid, jerk."

Mom said. "What I don't understand is how can you rattle off all those numbers, but you can't remember to brush your teeth."

Dad said. "Hey, who's for Burger Barn?"

I cheered with my brothers. We didn't go there often. We all started chanting Burger Barn. I was a little worried about Shelly and her leaving soon, but I tried not to think about it. At least, not right now.

_It didn't matter if Malcolm was a genius or not, he was still my little brother, Malcolm. _


	9. Lois Vs Evil

**The Wilkerson Sister **

**Chapter 9**

**Lois VS Evil**

I walked out of my room, where I finished my homework. Mom threatened to ground me for two weeks if I didn't. _So what if my grades were a little lower from last grading period?_ _And it could possibly be from homework not being turned in. But...I still didn't want to do it, but I had no choice._

I stared at what was going on in the kitchen. Mom was spraying Reese and Malcolm on the floor, who were rolling around and fighting. Dad was in the kitchen too and I could hear Dewey chanting something, banging his head on the washer.

I rolled my eyes at Dewey, stepping back as Dad passed me with a beer. I went toward the fridge and my eyes widened when Mom pointed the hose at me. "Ah! What?"

"Young lady, did you do your homework like I told you?"

I nodded quickly, raising my hands in surrender. "Yeah! Yeah, I did."

I stepped away from Reese and Malcolm where they almost tripped me. I didn't want to fight with them if they annoyed me. Mom still had the hose. I went to open the fridge and heard the hose turn on. "I told you to knock it off!"

I looked in there and brightened up when I saw a lone slice of pizza. Knowing this was a once and a lifetime deal, I snatched it and ran into the living room, jumping over the couch and putting the T.V on. I ate it cold, knowing it was too risky heating it up in the microwave with Malcolm _and _Reese in there. They'd steal it from me.

I could still hear Mom screaming at them and more water being sprayed. Also, Dewey's 'complaining' singing getting louder. I rolled my eyes again. _He deserves what he gets._

I just turned the T.V up louder.

* * *

I was sitting with Shelly at lunch. It was awesome to be hanging out with her again. I tried not to think about when she was leaving. I burst out laughing as I watched Malcolm space out as Julie said 'hi' to him, saying it too late. Shelly shook her head at me. "You're so mean."

I shrugged at her, saying simpily. "It's just Malcolm."

Malcolm made a face as he saw me laughing and I just sent him a smug smirk. I went back to talking to Shelly, getting her to help me with the math homework. Long Division was okay, but fractions were annoying. And we started adding negatives yesterday.

I yelped at the sharp pain to the back of my head. I grabbed and turned to see Malcolm storming away from me, the back of his head and his ears red. I scowled in his direction, moving to get up and hit him back. Shelly grabbed the back of my shirt and I let her pull me back down. "Let it go, you did start it."

I sent a pout in her direction. "You're supposed to be on my side."

She sent me a teasing smile. "When did we agree on that?"

I fake groaned. "You traitor!"

I let my head hit the table. She giggled. "Okay, now back to math."

I gave a more genuine groan. "Agh, kill me now."

We were going over it and as negatives and positives still confused me, Shelly hesitated. "Soon, you're gonna need a tutor, you know when...I-"

I flailed my arms, pointing hard at the paper a couple of time. "Help me! Help me!" I wasn't letting her finish that sentence.

She sent me a soft frown, but nodded. "Okay, here's what you do..."

* * *

I went with Reese and Malcolm to pick up Dewey, and then walked to Mom's store, _The Lucky Aide_. She's been working there for who knows how long. It was a store that had almost everything there.

Believe it or not, we didn't get into many fights on the way there. I smacked Malcolm for earlier and we shoved each other a bit, Reese laughed at us and Dewey watched, keeping away from us. Other then that, we just walked and talked about the new game coming out (that we couldn't play until it was old anyway).

We walked into the store. Dewey was in front with Reese behind him, Malcolm behind Reese and me behind Malcolm. We moved past the rotating thing.

Reese called. "Mom!"

Dewey turned back. "We're not suppose to yell in the store."

I looked past Reese and at my littlest brother. "Really?" _Like we care about something like that._

Reese flicked him in the back of the head. "We're not supposed to do that either. Life's funny that way." I snorted out a laugh.

I shook my head as I saw Craig coming from an aisle, heading toward us with a smile. He was weird and he had a obvious crush on mom for the longest time. "Hey! The Three Musketeers and a young maiden." I sent him a weird look. _What? _He pointed. "Athos, Aramis and you must be Porthos. Along with Constance de Bonacieux."

My look got stranger as he crouched next to Dewey. _I swear, it that's a insult, I don't care if he's an adult, I'm kicking his butt no matter how mad Mom gets. _

Dewey moved back a little. "You're creepy."

Craig frowned, swallowing. "You really shouldn't say hurtful things to grown ups." I raised my eyebrows at his tone. He was a sensitive guy.

Dewey told him. "I'm sorry."

Craig stood up, patting his shoulder with a chuckle. "That's okay. We're still friends."

"Craig!" He turned around and we saw a guy in a dress shirt and tie coming up. He looked old and had dark hair. He had a clipboard in one hand. "You've got to redo the nail polish. The crystal pinks are mixed with the frosty pinks and mixed with the god knows what."

"Right away, Mr. Pitter."

While he was getting scolded by his boss, I patted Dewey on the head. "Good job." He sent me a pleased grin back. I slapped a hand to my face as Mr. Pitter walked away and Craig acted like he had a sword. _Jeez._

Craig looked back at us with a grin. Reese stared while Malcolm and Dewey shook their heads. I said. "Dude, _no_."

Craig shrugged, doing it down an aisle. I said. "He's so lame!"

Reese and Malcolm agreed with me. "I know, right."

I jumped a little as Mom came over, clapping and leaning down to looks all of us in the eye (how does she do this). "Okay, I'm off work in five minutes. Don't touch the register. Don't touch the candy. Don't touch the price tags and don't touch the microphones. And that includes by accident, that includes just looking, that includes just hovering with your finger a half inch away from it. Fair warning." She stormed away.

I shook my head. "Dude, it's like she doesn't trust us."

Reese scoffed. "I know, right."

Malcolm slapped mine and Reese's shoulder. We turned on him. "Hey!"

He said. "Look at that!"

We looked in the direction he was looking at and I stared in awe. It was one of those foam cleaning machines. I grinned widely. Then thought of Mom.

_She would kill us. _

Reese looked at me and Malcolm. "Dare you."

Malcolm said back. "I dare you two."

I stiffened. "Of course I'd do it. I'm not-I'm not scared to."

Dewey said. "I'll do it."

Malcolm sent Dewey an annoyed look (glancing at me and what I said). "Yeah, right."

Dewey whined. "I will."

I pointed toward it. "Imma use it."

Malcolm scoffed at Dewey. "This isn't baby stuff, Dewey!"

Reese nodded. "Yeah, ride the horsey out front."

Reese looked over at me. "You will?"

I walked over. "Uh-huh."

Dewey complained and wondered off somewhere and we laughed. Reese said. "I knew he wouldn't do it."

Malcolm nodded, looking toward the machine. "Yeah, come on."

We were just pressing some buttons, but we all winded up stuck in foam, Reese shoving it down Malcolm shirt. I tripped over them, landing on my belly in the foam. I jumped up, slipping on the foam under my feet. I grabbed a bunch of it, dumping it on Reese's head. Reese turned with a glare, spraying me with the foam. I slipped and fell again. I was tossing the foam at him from the floor. He was between attacking me and Malcolm with it. I was hot and cold at the same time. The steam made it it hot, but the foam was cold-ish.

I heard a scream that made me freeze. "KIDS!"

I rolled away from them, sitting on my butt. "Mom?! Wait-"

Malcolm cried out. "It's not what it looks like!"

Mom shouted. "Let's go, now! You are all in so much trouble, do you understand me!? I can't believe you would do-actually I can, which is worse! It was only five minutes-five minutes and you do this! Get up, all of you get up!" We all scrambled away from each other and to our feet.

_She was pissed._

She pushed toward the door. Even with only two hands, she managed to smack us all in the back of the head. I yelped, but didn't say a word (unlike Malcolm, who she then pulled by the ear, ignoring his complaints). _Jeez, for a genius, Malcolm could be a real idiot._

* * *

After we got home and Mom made us shower, we were in trouble. She dragged us by our shirts to face the wall in the usual position. We were all kneeling in a row, hands clasped behind our heads. Reese was between me and Malcolm. We didn't even bother arguing. Mom was mad enough.

A little while after we were kneeling there, the door opened and Dad was home. Dad said cheerfully. "Oh, hello, kids! How long are you in for?"

I glanced at my brothers, I wasn't keeping count. I was trying to space out and day dream so I wouldn't fight with them and to make the time go by faster. Reese said. "Another hour."

Dad passed us. "Yow!" Yow is right, I didn't know we still had that much time left.

A little while later, Mom was yelling at Dewey for stealing 150 bucks worth of alcohol. _Mom's gonna kill him worse than us._

Mom shouted. "What am I going to do with you?!"

I shifted. My arms were starting to cramp. Reese said. "This looks pretty good, Mom."

I nodded against the wall. "Yeah, what we did wasn't as close as bad."

Mom said. "Quiet over there!" I shut my mouth. "Go get your jacket. We're going back to the store. You are going to return this bottle to Mr. Pitter and apologize and accept the concequences."

I called out. "What about us?"

"Don't you move! You stay there until we get back."

She shut the door, leaving with Dewey.

When the car left the driveway, Malcolm asked. "Dad?"

"Relax kids, I'll let you know where your mom gets home."

We relaxed our shoulders, sitting down.

Mom was furious when she came back, we scrambled toward our spots, but she just stormed into her room. We sent each other confused looks, but shrugged. I said. "At least we're not in trouble anymore."

Malcolm and Reese nodded. "Uh-huh."

Dewey looked lost, standing by the doorway. I shrugged to myself, heading to my room. Whatever it was, I didn't want to be anywhere near that storm.

* * *

It turns out, that Mom lost her job because of Dewey stealing that bottle of alcohol. Other than Mom being on edge and us having to be careful, food had to be the worst. We had to save us much as possible, so we were usually eating the same thing.

We were eating a lot of leftovers, macaroni and rice yesterday and we were eating the same thing today. I knew when we finally ran out, I would never want to eat it again. Mom was over at the sink, mixing...something.

Reese and Malcolm were sitting with each other on one side, me and Dewey on the other side. Dad and Mom would sit at the ends.

Reese called. "Mom, I can't eat this stuff anymore."

I agreed silently. I watched Mom, seeing how she'd react. Mom said in a testy voice. "Reese, this is not the time for complaining."

I looked back at Reese to see what he would say back. He said. "I'm not complaining. I'm constipated."

I made a face. Mom came over with a jug of...something. "I'm sorry we can live lavishly anymore." Mom said, pouring it into Dewey's glass. "Drink your milk."

I winced. _That was milk?!_

Dewey stared at it. "It's lumpy."

Mom retorted. "Then chew it."

I hissed as she poured some in my empty glass. "Mom..." I tried to help it, but my voice had a bit of a whine.

Mom pointed. "Drink it. Not another word, Charlotte."

I gulped. It's worse than the fridge game, Me, Malcolm and Reese play.

Dad said. "Hey, come on! We can do this! We've had to economize before. Remember when Grandma drove into the living room. Or last year when we were saving up for Disneyland."

I sent him a strange look. _We never went to Disney._

Dewey sounded hopefully. "We're going to Disneyland?"

Dad smiled brightly. "No. It's like that except this time we're trying to keep the house."

Mom raised her hands. "Everybody stop worrying. I'm going to find another job. Another cashier job that allows me to leave whenever I need to take care of my kids."

That made me sink a bit in my chair. I may not work, but even I knew finding something like that was hard. Malcolm sounded frustrated. "Can't you get unemployment or something?"

I perked up. That's true. I shrunk back when Mom shook her head. "No, I only worked 38 hours a week. They considered that part time." She turned to Dewey. "I hope you are at least learning something from all this."

I gave Dewey's head a annoyed look. This was all his fault. Dewey said. "Yes, if you do something bad, don't tell."

I smirked, a bit proud he figured that out already.

Mom sent him a glare. "No, we did the right thing. That's what's important."

I held my breath and drank some of the milk. I chewed slightly and had to take a hard gulp. My nose wrinkled in disgust. _That's nasty! _Dad sent me a look not to show Mom how I felt about it. I sighed, but nodded a little. I would just not drink/eat anymore milk.

Malcolm asked. "Can't we do a load of laundry or something? Everything I have stinks."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we're gettin' pretty rank. I play sports in half these clothes."

Reese teased. "That's just because you're a girl."

I huffed. "Shut up!" I was eating the rice. Mom sent me a warning look

Reese smirked at Malcom, taking a drink. "Yeah, he wants to smell good for _Julie..." _Malcolm nudged his chin as he took a drink, making him choke.

Mom snapped. "Malcolm!"

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know!" He went to the wall, kneeling in the usual position of when we got into trouble, hands clasped behind his head.

* * *

It was lunch time and I was eating with Shelly again. I was grumbling and complaining at how everything at my house was going. "I mean, sharing baths. Though I'm lucky to usually get to go first, being the only girl an' all. That just causes me to get in even more fights with with my brothers saying it's not fair. Don't even get started on the food. We're drinking lumpy milk. You hear me? LUMPY MILK! Milk is now ruined for me!"

Shelly's voice was dry. "And my day was great, thanks for asking."

I huffed. "Yeah, I know, so-what the heck?" I finished my leftovers of eggs from breakfast, sneaking some strawberries from Shelly's lunch.

It was Malcolm and he was ranting at Stevie loudly in the middle of the courtyard.

"I can't take this anymore! Anything I want, I can't have! Anything that's nice, I can't do! Everybody gets to do everything in the world except me."

He stopped for a second and then started again. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know there's worse people off then me. You know what? I don't care. I'm sick of going to school everyday smelling like feet. I hate being poor! I mean, is that so bad?! Why is that some big character flaw? It's not my fault we're poor."

As he was talking I was getting redder and redder in embarrassment a people glanced at me, knowing we're related. As I hated when it happened, when I got really embarrassed, my whole face would get red along with my ears and neck. Francis would ruthlessly tease me about it when he was around, which just made me get redder at the time.

I slapped a hand over my mouth to see Julie standing there with Malcolm's backpack. Even though I was going to kick his ass for being embarrassing like this, I felt a bit bad.

Shelly said. "That was...that was...uh, wow."

I growled, glaring in my little brother's direction. "I'm kicking his ass later."

I felt Shelly's hand on my shoulder. "Wait, wait. Why don't you just let it go."

I huffed at her. "Why?" _I was a bit grumpy right now, I'll admit that. _

"Because I bet he's beating himself more than you could."

I scoffed, smirking. "_Well,_ I doubt that, but fine."

Shelly sent me a pleased grin back.

* * *

Me, Malcolm and Reese were at the kitchen table, counting pennies that Mom dumped from a jar onto the table. There were a lot of them. Reese sat between me and Malcolm.

Mom stopped when there was a knock on the door. I looked over. "What?"

Mom leaned down. "Check the peephole. If they got a handtruck, don't open it." Reese nodded, running to the door.

To my surprise, Craig came in, out of breath. That I wasn't surprised at. Him being here I was. Mom asked, also suprised. "Craig, what are you doing here?"

Craig wheezed. "Lois, I just had a meeting with Mr. Pitter. Well, more like an hour begging, really? But, the point is, you can have your job back!"

I jumped up, cheering with Malcolm. We both slapped high-fives, cheering. "Yes!"

"And all you have to do is apologize and let him dock your pay 150 bucks. And you have to work the Graveyard Shift a couple of months."

I froze in horror, sharing the same look with Malcolm. Mom and apologize didn't work in the same sentence.

Reese nodded. "Sounds good, Mom."

Mom shook her head. "No thanks."

Even if Malcolm knew how she'd react, he exploded. "What?!"

Reese yelled. "You're kidding?!"

I spoke up. "Even if you don't want to, you should!"

Mom said back. "No!"

Craig exclaimed. "Why?!"

"'Cause that's admitting he's right! I'm not going to do that."

"Lois, if this makes any difference, I will work every Graveyard Shift right along side you, every single one of them."

I sent him a weirded out look. Dad came in. "Oh, hi, Craig. What's going on?"

Craig stiffened. "Nothing, just business. Take it easy, Tiger. We're working. Well, I am. Hi! Back to the Grind." He stumbled, running out the house.

"He's a weirdo."

I felt my head being pushed a little and looked to see Dad. He gave me a bit of a scolding look. "Be nice."

I shrugged. "Okay."

* * *

It was the next day and Shelly was off tutoring someone. I was eating this morning's leftovers, some really old bacon and bread. I made a sort of bacon sandwich to make it more bareable.

"Charlie?"

I looked up, it was a boy in my class, Tyler Davis. He was sort of a nerd and a teacher's pet. He wasn't smart enough to be a Krelboyne. I nodded at him. "Hey. What's up?"

"Come on, I want to show you something."

I stared for a minute and shrugged. "Sure." I followed him for a moment and stopped at the cheer. Malcolm was standing shocked and I saw Reese and Dewey in a crowd of kids, holding big brown bags. I stared at the banner and felt my face going red. Dewey looked mad and Reese looked embarrassed too and lost. It was like him and Reese switched places. I stared at the banner. 'Food Drive'.

Malcolm's teacher, Miss Caroline brightened up when she saw me. "Oh, goodness, Charlotte. You've made it. Isn't it wonderful? Julie organized the whole thing herself and everyone in school responded."

I was just speechless as Julie went up to Malcolm with her brown bag. "Dear Malcolm, this isn't just food. It's an expression on how we all feel about you. Our hearts go out to you in our time of need." I seemed to unfreeze as she handed him the bag and stepped away.

I was feeling more angry that embarrassed or at least trying to be less embarrassed. I tackled Malcolm, causing him to cry out and flail on the ground. "This is all your fault!" I was stressed and Shelly was leaving in the next couple of days. I smacked and punched anywhere I could reach. Malcolm cried out from under me, but I didn't let him get loose. Eventually, I felt some hands pull me away and it was surprisingly Reese, looking shocked at everything.

"Charlotte, oh dear, why would you do that?"

I stared at her, my face was getting red again at all the stares and I stormed away, growling and looking for Shelly. She could always calm me down.

_I was going to miss that._

* * *

I was ignoring Malcolm, who had most likely a bruise on his stomach and a black eye. Lucky for me, they didn't call Mom. But when Mom saw him, she was going to kill me.

Dewey was quietly walking behind us as me, Malcolm and Reese carried food. I was gripping mine tightly, knowing I was dead meat. We opened the door and Mom looked over. "Kids, you're-what happened?!"

I grimaced and Dewey was the one to explain. How I blamed Malcolm for us getting embarrassed about the food (which we set down on the table) and beat him up. Malcolm looked a little embarrassed, but I was still ignoring him. Reese would've been laughing at Malcolm and giving me a high-five by now, but he was silent.

I yelped as Mom grabbed my ear. "Ow! Ow! Mom!"

I hissed as she pulled toward the wall by the door. "What is wrong with you?! Attacking your brother at school like that! Kneel there and don't move until I say so."

"But-"

I yelped again at the yank to my hurting ear. "No butts missy!"

She let go and went back to the table. I rubbed my ear with a huff. I knelt on the floor, facing the wall and my hands clasped behind my head.

I heard sounds from the kitchen like stuff being put on the table. Malcolm asked shocked. "You're gonna keep the food?"

"Yes! I'm not going to throw away perfectly good pie filling and Lamb Chutney." I felt my face burn. _We couldn't keep it!_

Malcolm yelled. "Don't you even care how humiliating this is!?"

Reese said. "We've done can drives. This is just the crap people find when they clean out their garage."

I called. "They're right! We can't keep it!"

"Charlotte! You are punished, quiet over there!"

I grumbled. "Fine."

Her voice raised. "Okay, you two, just stop it! I know how hard this is, but no one ever said life is fair. Some times decent hard working people get dumped on for no good reason. And they just have to wipe their eyes and keep on walking." It was silent for a moment. "Something will turn up. We just have to hold on a little bit longer."

Dad said. "And in the meantime, we thankful for small favors. Anyone want the last olive?"

I rolled my eyes. I agreed most of the time, but sometimes Dad's 'thinking on the bright side' was annoying.

I then heard Mom's voice filled with horror. "Those aren't olives! They're peaches."

My head snapped around to look. Peaches and olives don't look alike. My hands went back down to my side.

I stumbled to my feet, looking at Dad in horror. Malcolm and Reese looked the same.

Mom called 911.

* * *

Dad went in the Ambulance and after he got checked in, we were all in his room with him laying in bed. I was on on one side with Malcolm, Reese and Dewey while Mom was with the doctor. He said. "Be glad you got him here early, that's good. He'll be fine in a few days. Just when this one ate the frog." He nodded his head toward Dewey. I smirked a little. We've been to the ER for a _lot _of reasons.

Dewey was playing with a stethoscope. "I only ate half of it." I scrunched up my nose. _Even I know that was gross._

Mom pulled the doctor away and I watched as he told her the bill was going to be 3,000 to 4,000 dollars. I frowned at the look on her face. I wasn't an idiot. Yeah, it was stressful for us, but it was stressful her, more than us. The doctor left and Mom slowly sat on the bed. My brothers looked the same as I probably did.

Mom got up and grabbed her purse. "Okay, you kids take care of your Dad. I'm going to see Mr. Pitter and beg for my job back."

I stiffened, staring at her in shock. _Mom doesn't beg. _I cried out. "You can't!" I know I wanted her to before, but she can't do that!

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, Mom, wait! You don't have to do that!"

She turned from where she at the door. "Yes, I do. I don't want to, shouldn't have to, but guess what, I do. But I want you kids to understand something. I'm not going back on anything I said before."

I frowned. "How? You said you're not gonna beg. Why are you gonna do it now?"

Mom opened her mouth to say something, but Reese said. "You totally going back on it!"

Mom said in a stern tone. "_No, _I am not." She moved closer as she talked. "Everything I said before still goes. You know sometimes bad things happen and you don't understand why. And you just have to trust there's a good reason for it." She muttered to herself as she walked out.

I made a face as Dad let out a fart.

It was stone silent. Malcolm said. "The first one to laugh gets their ass kicked."

I said. "If it's you, that's twice in one day, Malcolm."

"Shut_ up, _Charlie! Now's not the time!"

I grumbled. "I know that."

* * *

It was the next morning and Dad was back. I was happy to see pancakes there in the morning. I whooped and ran to the table. My brothers rushed in next to me and we all sat down. We passed around the pancakes. I still saw the black eye on Malcolm's face and was surprised I wasn't grounded for life. I mean, maybe I overreaction a little, but he deserved it and I _was _in a bad mood.

Mom got her job back. She said brightly. "Yeah, he just quit for no reason. Who knows why? See! You do the right thing and everything works out for the best."

We were eating and talking. I almost groaned in joy as I ate, I never thought I would eat pancakes again.

Mom said. "Oh and Charlie?"

I looked up, still in a good mood. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Your grounded."

I dropped my fork in shock from the quickness. "What? Why?"

She fixed me with a stern look. "You attacked your brother in school for something that wasn't his fault. Look at his face!"

I huffed sarcastically. "Yeah, it's still hideous."

Malcolm sent me a glare, but didn't say anything. Reese snickered under his breath.

"Charlotte, that's enough. Two weeks without T.V and you better bet that I have a pile of chores for you to do and other than school, you cannot go outside."

I sputtered. "But Shelly-"

Mom's look softened a little bit. "Well, that part will start when she leaves and then it's back to no outside. Do you understand me?"

I sighed, deflating with a pout. "Yes, Ma'am." With that, we all got back to eating, me slumping a little.

_Yeah, everything is back to normal._

* * *

It was a couple days later and I was at Shelly's. Glaring at the moving truck. They rented it and were going to drive to Chicago. Shelly didn't know I was here yet. She came outside and saw me, jumping a little. "Charlie!?" Her parents looked away from me, they said goodbye to me before. Well wishes and all that crap.

I've known them for a while, since almost the beginning of elementary school. We went around to behind her house. It was quiet and awkward, something it never was with us. I had my arms tightly crossed against my chest, jaw clenched and staring away from her. I wanted to get angry like usual, but I knew it wouldn't help.

Shelly let out a scream of frustration. "Charlie!? I'm leaving today."

I grimaced, staring at the side of her house. _They must of repainted because it wasn't peeling anymore. _I grumbled out. "I know that."

"Then for God's sake, look at me!"

My head snapped toward her, flinching at the tears in her eyes. I knew she was going to starting crying soon by her face. I hoped not. She threw her arms over my shoulders, hugging me. "I'm gonna miss you."

I hugged her just as tightly as she had, sniffing back my tears. "M-me too."

It was quiet for a moment and neither of us let go.

Then Shelly gently pushed me away. "Charls. I'm going to go and that's not going to change."

I rubbed my eyes. _I hated crying. I wasn't Dewey! _I sniffed up my snot so it wasn't dripping down my nose. "Ye-yeah, I know."

"I have your number, I'll call when we get a phone."

I stared at her seriously. "You promise?"

She stared, just as serious. "I swear." She hugged me again. "Try to stay out of trouble."

I snickered at that, grinning for the first time. "Yeah...not happening." I then told her that I was grounded now and why.

She shook her head at me, sending me a smile back. "I should've guessed. Poor Malcolm."

I yelped in mock insult. "Hey! He deserved it!"

Shelly teased. "_Sure."_

We talked for a while, but it was time for her to go. She hugged me tightly, surprising me with a kiss on the cheek. I flushed dark red (I could feel the heat) in surprise and she went to leave, a teary sad smile, walking to the car with her parents. They waved 'bye' to me and I watched as the car drove far away.

_Taking Shelly away from me._

* * *

I got home and was still grounded (Mom made sure I knew that), but made my brothers leave me alone which I was happy about. I had the phone in my hands, frowning at it. I then dialed a number I knew in my head. Someone answered. "Hello? Who's this?"

"Hey, I'm lookin' for Francis."

"Oh, sure. Yo, Francis! Phone's for you!"

"Huh? So which one of you is it?"

I was a bit relieved to hear Francis' voice. "Hey, Francis."

"Oh, hey, Dork. What's up?"

I told him about Shelly and her leaving. I obviously didn't tell him about my babyish crying. "Ah, sorry about that, Charlie." He was telling me about Marlin Academy and it kept my mind off it.

After awhile, I yawned. "Alright. See ya when you visit."

"Tryin' to get rid of me, Dork? I heard you kicked Malcolm's ass."

I huffed, know he wouldn't be mad or annoyed. _He had no room to talk. _"He deserved it."

He laughed. "I'm sure he did."

I suddenly winced from the shout. "CHARLOTTE! GET OFF THE PHONE! YOU'RE GROUNDED!"

I yelped in horror, fumbling with the phone. "Gotta go, Francis!"

I heard a another laugh. "Talk to you later, Dork."

* * *

_Francis: 13_

_Reese: 9_

_Charlie: 8_

_Malcolm: 7_

_Dewey: 3_

_Mom was out with Dewey and Dad was watching them. Well, watching T.V. with Malcolm and Reese, sitting on either side of him on the couch. Since they all shared a room. Francis and Reese shared a bed as did Dewey and Malcolm. Charlie slept on her own twin bed between both beds. _

_Right now, Francis was sitting at the desk, doing homework. Not by choice, but his Mom said he would not be able to go outside and he had some cool plans with Richie and Circus this weekend. Well, he was trying to focus. Charlie was bored and annoying the crap out of him and he was struggling through math._

_"Charlie, for the last time, go away!" He turned around to give her a glare._

_He turned the right way and she stuck her tongue out at his back. She puffed out her cheeks, staring at the back of his blond head. She grabbed one of Reese's plastic toy planes, lobbing it at his head._

_He jumped out of his chair, causing it to smack onto the floor. She scrambled to her feet, but Francis tackled her. She grunted as he sat on her. "Mom said you can't punch us!" It was true, as Mom was making him more responsible with them, getting on his case as he got physical with them. Tried also saying Charlie was a girl fragile, which Francis scoffed at. She tussled and fought with them just as much as they did her and each other. _

_He stared down at her, wondering how he was going to get her back. He then gave her a devious grin, causing her to gulp nervously. "F-francis-what..." She yelped loudly, giggling loudly as his fingers dug into her sides. "Ah! Stop it!"_

_She tried to roll, but he sat on her firmly, shoving his fingers under her arms. She shrieked. "No fair! Sto-ah! Francis! Come on!" He was attacking her worst spot. _

_"So, you gonna stop?"_

_"Yes! Please!" Her breathing was getting heavy. He switched to her stomach, digging in causing her to let out a yowl. As her older brother, he knew all her worst spots. She flailed, but couldn't get loose. _

_"I don't know, you're being a brat."_

_"Am not-ah!" Her face was flushing a deep red. He stopped, noticing the signs of her looking like she was going to pee herself. Having 4 younger siblings, he knew the signs. Their Dad was at the door, Reese and Malcolm by him. _

_They laughed at her and she grumbled to herself, curling into a ball, trying to catch her breath. _


	10. Stock Car Races

**Thanks for those that enjoyed it. And glad you like it.**

**MarionintheMiddle: Glad you enjoyed it. OC Malcolm in the Middle fanfiction is rare. Yeah and I thought it would be funny if she was like that too. Yeah, the Shelly and Charlie scene was sad, I actually planned to have her leave in the beginning, I just didn't know when. I also love the relationship between the siblings, so I'll probably add something at least once every chapter. **

**As for face claim, Gracie Prewitt at the age of 12. I think the only differance is her eyes are blue and not brown. But that is the closest I could think of. **

**Wilkerson's Sister**

**Chapter 10 **

**Stock Car Races**

* * *

_Francis: 15_

_Reese: 11_

_Charlie: 10_

_Malcolm: 9_

_Dewey: 5_

_Francis was getting in a lot more trouble and driving their mom crazy. It was like walking on eggshells around her. Ever their Dad, Hal was being more careful, being more nervous than usual._

_Right now, Dewey was staying in a after school program the school had for free. The rest of them were home except for Francis. He was out with his friends when he was supposed to be grounded because he set a car on fire last week with Circus. As he walked out the door, with a noogie toward Reese and a 'See ya, Dork', to Charlie, they both sent each other worried looks. _

_Before this, Their mom went to go pick up Dewey and their Dad was watching them, but he was working on something in the backyard, so he didn't know what was going on. Malcolm was doing homework in his room while Charlie and Reese were sitting on the couch, watching t.v. They just finished watching a show with cool ATV stunts, but it ended. _

_Reese groaned, bored. "It's over."_

_Charlie snorted, rolling her eyes. "Pick something then, doofus."_

_He shoved her shoulder, using the remote to change the remote. "Shut up."_

_Charlie slumped in the chair, grumbling. "Whatever." She didn't feel like fighting with him. _

_She brightened up a little when she saw WWF Raw from last night. She missed it as she was hanging out with Shelly when it was on. She let out an annoyed shout when he changed the channel. "Hey!"_

_He sent her an bored look, clicking the remote. "I already saw it."_

_Charlie grabbed for the remote. "But, I didn't! Gimmie!"_

_Reese's blond hair was in his usual spikes and he yanked the remote back. "No, I'm watching something!"_

_Charlie tightened her fingers around the piece of plastic. "No, your not!"_

_Reese was older (so he was stronger) and yanked it back further. Since, she was still clutching the remote, she almost landed in his lap. She punched him in the gut, making him let it go. "Ow!"_

_She threw herself back onto the other end of the couch. She stuck out her tongue. "Ha!"_

_Reese's face screwed into a scowl. "I'm gonna kill you!"_

_Charlie's eyes widened, jumping off the couch and scrambled to her feet. Reese tackled her and they started rolling on the floor. Charlie yelled as he punched her cheek. "Ow!"_

_"Stop moving!" Reese yelled back, letting out another yell as she yanked on his blond spikes, trying to pull him off her. "Stop yankin' my hair!"_

_ "What is going-nope." It was Malcolm and he just turned around to go back to their room. With the mood their mom was in, he wasn't stupid. He rolled his eyes. Charlie and Reese were gonna get it._

_They were yanked apart with a yell they were familiar with. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"_

_ They froze and stared at each other, the back of each of their shirts held in her fists. Malcolm and Hal came out as Lois shook them by their shirts. Hal smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Honey."_

_ Lois asked sharply. "Malcolm! Where's Francis?"_

_ Malcolm froze, eyes wide. If Francis knew he ratted him out, he was dead, if Mom thought he was lying... "Uh...uh, he's not here." He said the last word in a whisper. _

_ Lois snapped. "Hal!"_

_ Hal wrung his hands, sending her another sheepish smile. "Sorry, Lois. I really didn't see him leave."_

_ Dewey was hiding behind the kitchen table. Reese and Charlie were being as still as possible. Lois sighed. "I'm going to look for that troublemaker." She pushed both of the kids in her grasp toward separate walls. "Go on, you know the drill. If you don't move, you won't be grounded."_

_Reese said. "But-"_

_Lois said sharply. "No talking. Charlotte! Hands behind the head and kneel!" Charlie was just facing the wall._

_They both jumped, kneeling near their part of the wall and clapping their hands behind their heads. _

_Lois said. "Hal, watch the kids." Before he could object and offer to get their eldest, Lois left with the keys, grumbling to herself. "And here I thought having a girl would easier. Not with my luck. She's just as bad as the boys."_

* * *

Me, Reese and Malcolm were sitting on the couch, Reese between us. We were watching TV. It was some dinosaur thing. I was bored. I could tell they were too. I was thinking about Shelly, which then got me upset. Before I could think about it more, Dewey showed up with a wide grin, standing in front of Reese.

I rolled my eyes. With that smile, he was up to something. _I knew it. _Shrugging, I leaned on the couch arm, so I could see the TV, since Dewey was in the way.

Reese, who was eating popcorn, asked. "What are you looking at, Monkey Boy?"

I groaned when he put the popcorn bowl in my lap. "Reese-"

Reese just stared at Dewey as he said. "Shut up, Charlie."

I scowled at him and was about to say something back when Dewey started punching himself, stopping me short. He was saying loudly. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Reese!"

Reese was shocked. "What are you doing?"

I blinked. I shared a look with Malcolm over Reese's head. We both rolled our eyes. Though, Malcolm looked a little bit lazy doing it.

"Ow! Help! Mom!" I saw Malcolm and couldn't help the grin I had.

Reese got mad and tried to stop him, but Mom's shout stopped him. "Reese! What the heck are you doing? Honest to God, you can't leave that kid alone for five minutes."

I shrunk into the couch more as she came over and snatched Reese up by his arm, pulling him toward our room. I was wondering when Dewey was going to pull that. I heard Malcolm telling him to do that to Reese a week ago.

Dewey smiled, sitting where Reese was. I had a sudden thought and shot my littlest brother a look. "You ain't tryin' that on me, are you?" I ate the popcorn that was in my lap. _Well, it was there to eat. _

Dewey simply smiled and shrugged, his usual answer. But it annoyed me this time. I didn't want to be sitting and then getting in trouble with Mom because of Dewey when I wasn't doing anything wrong. I scowled. "Don't shrug, you little brat. I'll-" I stopped short as he opened his mouth to yell. I glared at him, feeling my fists ball.

Malcolm laughed. "Do you really want to be like Reese?"

I grimaced, still being able to hear Reese complaining and Mom yelling at him. I grumbled. "No." Dewey wouldn't be able to pull something like that with _me. _I wouldn't let him and even if Malcolm was laughing, I knew he wouldn't allow it either. Reese wouldn't fall for it a second time. It was a one time thing. I decided to ignore him and continued to watch TV. Couldn't do nothing about it without getting in trouble with Mom anyway.

* * *

I was curled up, sleeping until I heard Mom yell. "Alright! Everybody up!"

I groaned, rolling to put my face in the pillow. "No!" My brothers around me were complaining, but I was too tired to listen to what they were saying. I cried out as the blankets were ripped off and the blinds opened.

Malcolm rolled onto his feet with a groan. "Why do you do this _every _morning?"

Mom said. "_Because _you all can't get up every morning!"

By the time we were all dressed and showered, I was a bit more awake. We were all in the kitchen. I was a little slumped at the table.

I heard Dad say as he was standing by the fridge. "Honey, which juice don't I like? Apple or grape?"

Mom replied. "You don't like either." I smiled a little, that was a normal conversation between them. Dad usually forgot things most mornings.

Mom was also at the table, looking through papers. I was just waiting for the cereal to end up on my side of the table. Mom said. "Malcolm, what is all this stuff from your teacher? That woman sends over two or three fliers every day."

Malcolm, who was by the toaster said. "She says she wants the parents to be as involved as possible with the children."

I snorted. The only time the school contacted Mom was when I was in trouble.

Mom was just as surprised. "At school? It's the only break I get."

I said, sick of hearing and feeling my stomach growl. "Hey Malcolm, get me the cereal."

Malcolm sent me a annoyed look. "Get it yourself."

I looked toward Mom and complained. "Mom! Malcolm won't get me the cereal and he's right next to it."

Malcolm glared when I smirked at him. We knew how Mom would react. She didn't look up as she scolded Malcolm. "Malcolm, just give it to your sister! And what is personal fulfillment week?"

Malcolm rolled his eyes, plopping down the milk and cereal with a thump. He scowled as I sent another grin. He then groaned at what Mom said (One of the reasons he wasn't coming after me). My grin widened as I shared a look with Reese. His look was the same as mine. We knew what _that_ meant at school, the 'personal fulfillment' thing.

Malcolm explained with a loud groan, rolling his head back. "Square dancing." Malcolm came over and sat next to me.

Reese grinned. "You should see it. The Krelboyne's dance on the tether ball courts in front of the whole school. We laugh our asses off."

I snorted for a minute and then froze at what he said. My head snapped over to Mom at what he he said. The rest of us were doing the same thing.

Mom gave him a stare. "Excuse me?"

Reese said quickly. "Butts. We laugh our butts off!"

I winced as she got up, getting the soap and a container. I winced some more when she made him gargle soap. "Open." A moment later. "Now, spit."

_Trust me, that does not taste good. Not at all._

Reese groaned. "This tastes like crap."

Malcolm exclaimed. "Reese is right. This class is turning me into a total weirdo."

I smirked at him when Mom was turned toward the sink. Mom looked back. "You are not a weirdo. You are gifted. And if gifted kids are supposed to square dance, then you'll do it. Probably teaches you geometry." _What is that?_

I snickered under my breath, coughing out. "Weirdo."

Malcolm shoved my shoulder. "Shut up!"

I opened my mouth to say something back when Mom barked. "Charlotte! Stop picking on your brother when you know it bothers him."

I muttered. "Sorry, Mom."

Mom fixed me with a look. "Am I the one you're supposed to be apologizing to?"

I made a face. "Oh, come on!"

"_Charlotte."_

I scowled at Malcolm's expectant face. The jerk was enjoying this. I said. "Fine, sorry, Malcolm."

Mom handed Dad some letters. "Don't forget to mail these bills, they're late."

Dad made a happy sound. "Ooh, two blues and one pink. We're getting better."

_Oh, that's boring bill talk._

Mom said. "Well, don't get cocky. They're hot until I deposit my paycheck. You kids, let's get going! Come on, Malcolm! You don't want them to start dosey do-ing with out ya."

I snickered as I went into our room to get dressed. I put on blue jeans and a t-shirt. Wearing a bigger open shirt over than. I grabbed my bag and left my room. Reese called out. "Hey, Charlie. Dad's takin' us today."

I nodded, following my brothers out the door. Dewey and Reese were fighting and Dad was leading Malcolm. I just hopped into the car. I was getting used to school with Shelly, but I still hated it. Dewey complained. "Reese put a booger on my lunch bag."

I sat between Dewey and Malcolm, Reese in the front with Dad. Dad said. "Dewey, what have we said about snitching?"

Dewey sighed. "Only snitch when asked to snitch."

There was a grin in Dad's voice. "Good boy. So, looking forward to school?"

I rolled my eyes. That's such a _Dad_ thing to ask. Nobody likes school. Well, maybe those weird Krelboyne's. Malcolm didn't count. Malcolm muttered. "I guess."

Dad was cheerful. "Well, that's a shame. 'Cause we're not going to school."

I grinned widely at Dad's look. I easily recognized it. "Oh yeah!"

Dad laughed with me. "Knew you'd like it."

Malcolm gave him a weird look. "Where are we going?"

Dad turned completely toward us. My eyes didn't leave him. He said. "Kids, I'm going to share something with you, I hope you remember for the rest of your lives. Now, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I've been planning this for years. I just had to wait until you were all old enough to appreciate it."

Reese turned to us. "Hookers?"

I made a face. "Dude, really?"

Malcolm shrugged. "If it gets me out of square dancing, fine."

Reese said back. "It could be."

I said dryly. "Dewey is six."

Dad said. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride, kids. We're rebels! We're wildmen-and women." He sent a wink in my direction, laughing.

_As cool as skipping school was, Dad was still very weird. _

* * *

We were riding for a while and I only got in one slapping fight with Dewey. He kept on leaning on me, even after I told him like five times to stop. Dad was in too good of a mood to be upset. He told us cheerfully to stop fighting and that 'fun times were ahead'. It was so creepy that we listened straight away.

It turns out he took us to some kind of race track. It was pretty cool. Way better than school. "Woah, this is awesome!"

I followed Malcolm through the gates. He beamed. "Stock Car Races!"

Reese grinned. "Ah, cool!"

Dad said from behind us. "That's right, kids. The real field of dreams-only with concrete instead of all that grass."

I looked around and saw people with equipment, other people here to watch the races and people pushing cars. I didn't like racing as much as baseball or basketball (I was pretty good at sports), but it was still cool to watch.

We went up to the stands and saw some empty seats. Dad pointed out to one of the cars racing on the track. "See Number 16. That is Rusty Malcolm. The greatest man in the history of the sport. Maybe the greatest man ever. Fifteen Nascar titles, six world records. Inventor of the in car urination system. The list is endless. And he came from nothing just like you kids. You see this is Rusty's last race ever. He's retiring, so I wanted to share this with you before that so that you can see for yourselves of how much you can accomplish in this world with a little persistence and determination."

Some guy said from seats above us. "You hear about that article in People about him getting a divorce?"

Dad scowled at him. "Shut your filthy mouth."

The dude sent him a weird look, leaning back.

I said. "Sounds cool, but Babe Ruth was the coolest guy around."

"Charlie?"

I was sitting on the other side of Reese, Malcolm on Reese's other side, with Dewey between Malcolm and Dad. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Please don't ruin this for me!"

I nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

"It's alright, kiddo. Now, Malcolm, did you know you were named after him?"

Malcolm looked surprised. "I was?"

Dad grinned, the small Nascar hat on his head. "Yes, Siree Bob. It took me two kids and your sister being born to win that argument."

The cars were raising past, everyone was clapping, so we started clapping late.

Dad yelled. "Everyone, start your excitement, because here they come!"

Rusty Malcolm went around and Dewey jumped up. "Yay! Rusty Malcolm won!"

Dad laughed and I gave out a snort of my own. I knew there was more laps. He kissed him on the head. "Aw, no, sweetheart, that was just the pace lap."

Reese asked. "How many laps are there?"

I could feel the sun shinning on my head, feeling my hair get hot. Dad let out another laugh. "Oh, hundreds. We got four hours of this."

I felt my shoulders slump in disbelief. I didn't think there were this many. Malcolm was just as shocked. "Four hours?!"

_I didn't know if I could last four hours of sitting here._

Dad beamed. "Uh-huh!"

Reese sounded a bit annoyed. "Do we get to at least see any flaming wrecks?" That would make _four hours of the same thing _less boring.

"Reese, it's not about that. See, it's about strategy and technique. It's about the melding of man and machine. The wrecks are just sort of a bonus. Dewey, you can keep track of the laps." He handed him a magazine.

And then it begun.

After a lap, I got bored. As it went on and the sun was burning me, I was drenched in sweat. It was dripping down my face and neck, collecting under my arms. I took my outer shirt off, feeling that my back was wet.

My brothers were also hot and bored out of their minds. I could feel my butt getting numb from sitting in a hard seat. I shifted in place.

And the cars kept on going past, so fast they were shrieking and zooming forward. Malcolm convinced Dad to let us get sodas. I gave him a weird look when he gave us money to get him beer.

"You think they'll give it to us?"

Dad just shoved a card in my hand. "Hey, take my ID."

I said slowly. "Okay..."

We went where they had food and stuff, getting large sodas (like I thought, we weren't able to get beer for Dad. We got laughed at). We were walking around and Malcolm snapped. "Dewey, stay with us, you're gonna get lost."

Dewey glared. "No, I won't."

Malcolm said back. "Yes, you will will. You always do."

I took a sip of coke through the straw. "Malcolm's right. And I ain't takin' the rap for you disappearing."

Malcolm walked over to Reese. "You know you could help."

I followed, figuring Dewey was right behind us. Reese turned to us. "I'm watching him. He's right over-"

I rolled my eyes. "You were faced in the other-"

"CHARLIE!"

I turned at Malcolm's yell. "What-oh crap!" I put my hands on my head in panic. "Where'd he go?! I'm gonna kill 'im!"

Malcolm snapped at Reese. "Totally you're fault! He was right in your eye line. You don't pay attention to anything!"

Reese scoffed. "I pay attention. Oh, score!"

I made a disgusted face as he ate a hot dog off the ground. "Dude!"

"What? It's mine."

My face twisted more. "Like I'd want it. That goes way past the five second rule."

"Still taste good."

I shook my head. "Ew!"

Malcolm waved his arms. "Guys, stop! Let's just go find Dewey." We looked around and Malcolm complained. "This place sucks. It's hot, it stinks, nobodies t-shirt cover their stomachs and I'm bored out of my mind."

Reese pointed somewhere a little further. "Hey, look at that." We looked over and red the sign on the white door.

'Mechanics Only: All Others Forbidden

Reese said. "Let's check it out."

Malcolm shrugged. "I don't know, it doesn't just say keep out, it says forbidden."

Reese said. "And they wouldn't bother making it forbidden if there totally wasn't something bitching on the other side."

I nodded. "Reese is right. We're bored, let's do what we always do and make our own fun." I grinned at the thought.

We were barely in there for twenty minutes. Malcolm was playing with a drill and Reese was messing with something. I dug into a toolbox and bared my teeth into a grin when I found a heavy hammer. I started slamming it into whatever I could. I couldn't put holes into walls at home. Mom would kill me.

The door slammed open. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" We ran off, but the security guard grabbed us.

I darted off as he grabbed Malcolm and Reese. He was a fat guy with blond hair. "Get back here!"

Malcolm screamed. "Charlie, run!"

Reese shouted too. "Yeah! Get out of here!"

The security brought my brothers behind some door, but I hid behind a wall close to the room. "Crap! What do I do now?!"

* * *

I watched the door, but didn't see anything happen. I start to fidget in place. Dewey was missing and they were in security custody. I left the area, deciding to look for Dewey. Easier than dealing with security guards. I called out. "Dewey! Yo, Dewey!"

A adult man around Dad's age with thin hair and a fat belly waved at me. "Kid, you good?"

I walked in a different direction, not wanting to get adults involved. "Mind your business, fatass."

"What did you call me, ya little shit?!" I turned to see an angry red over his face, a vein pulsing in his forehead.

I made a worried face. "Ah, crap!" _Why are adults always getting mad at me!?_

I ran off as he chased me and I was pushing past people. I heard their complaints, but ran faster. I was relieved a minute late of running(and the guy wheezing behind me), to see the backs of Dewey and Dad. Further ahead were Malcolm and Reese, the back of their shirts grabbed by that security guard. Looking behind me and the guy still chasing me, I said, panting. "Better that then him." I hit a burst of speed.

I ran into Dad's back. "Dad! Help!"

"Charlie-what?!" He eyed the guy chasing me a way back.

The security guy looked at me, saying blankly. "She's yours too?"

Dad nodded. "Yeah, like I said, I'm really sorry-" I watched as Dad kicked him, then he yelled. "Clyde, Kevin! Get to the car!" He grabbed Dewey and we ran, I laughed as the fat guy chased me, flipping over the security guard's back, smacking his head into the entrance pole.

We got into the car and beat it out of there. This time Malcolm was in the front with Reese in the middle of me and Dewey.

* * *

As we drove home, it was getting dark. Reese asked me about the fat guy and I told him. Everyone in the car laughed at that. Malcolm snorted. "Not surprised, Charlie." I was too amused to be offended. Malcolm and Reese told us about why they were in security, which gave us another laugh. Dewey mentioned what he did and after Dad screamed a bit, shocked (which was normal for him), though that was shocking for us all.

I smacked his shoulder. "Dude, what the heck?" He complained, but nothing else came from it.

Finally with the sky black, we pulled up in front of the house. Dad gave out a left over chuckle. "All right, men-and lady. Well, I hope you all learned something today, huh?"

As we were coming to walk in the house, Dad said. "Now, kids, remember as far as your mom knows, I have been at work all day."

I shrugged. "Sure, Dad. Telling her would bust us too."

He sent me a wide grin, messing up my hair. "Good, Kiddo."

He opened the door and we followed him. I froze in horror as I saw what was on the kitchen table. Dad and my siblings did the same. Piles listing all of our names, plus Francis' were on the table. I noticing the matchsticks and firecrackers from mine, and that old test I failed, but tricked mom into signing (I thought I threw that away?!). I could also see magazines from Dad, Cigarettes from Francis, dynamite from Reese, a broken toy from Dewey and a saw from Malcolm. And that was only to name a few.

The worst part was, Mom was sitting next to everything, drinking tea. There was a pleasant look on her face. _Uh oh. That was her 'beyond pissed off' face. _Looking at all the stuff, we could be grounded for life.

And the rest of them knew it too, even Dad.

I said quietly. "How much trouble are we in?"

Mom gave a short laugh. "Oh? You have _no _idea."

I gulped.

_I'm so dead. _


	11. The Funeral

**Wilkerson Sister**

**Chapter 11**

**Funeral**

"Wilkerson!"

I jumped up, blinking away the sleep out of my eyes. "Yeah?"

It was my math teacher (my worst subject). "What's the answer to number 11?"

I wrinkled my nose, glancing at my book. "Uh..."

"Wilkerson." I glanced up. "Just so I know you're actually paying attention, come up and solve it."

I felt my ears burning as the class laughed.

_I hated this guy. _

I walked up and dragged my feet up to the board, taking my book with me. It was a long division. They were okay, until I forgot a step, then the whole thing got messed up. It was making me nervous, I could feel all the stares on my back.

I finished up and I watched as he looked over it. He looked annoyed. "That's correct, Wilkerson. Go sit down and pay attention."

I couldn't help, but smirk smugly.

_That will show that idiot._

* * *

I was sitting on the bed, reading a magazine. Malcolm was on the phone with his 'girlfriend'. He was glaring at me to leave, but I just grinned at him. He couldn't yell at me without her hearing it.

"Julie, I'm sorry I'm canceling out so late."

A moment later, he said. "No, but I guess my mom was. She keeps saying how important this is. She keeps saying how important this is. Anyway, I'm really sorry. Especially since your stuck with the extra ticket."

I was making faces at Malcolm, trying to get him to snap. At this point, I put the magazine down, finding that annoying my brother was more amusing.

He mouthed. 'Knock it off!'

I just grinned wider. It was quiet as he listened to the phone and then he said in shock. "Who's Jimmy?!"

I snickered, sticking my tongue out at him. He glared, trying to ignore me.

A moment later, he hung up with a sigh. I snorted. "Jimmy, huh?"

Malcolm lunged at me. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" I laughed, scrambling to get out of the way as he tackled me.

"Kids! Knock it off!"

I yelped at the punch to my shoulder he gave me. Malcolm stumbled off me and stood. I glared up at him. He was lucky mom was in the doorway. I also got up.

Mom shook her head. "Honestly, you all can't last two minutes without fighting."

We didn't say anything to that.

_She wasn't wrong._

Mom looked at Malcolm. "You called that girl?"

Malcolm snapped. "Yes, I called her! I called her and I told her I couldn't go to the concert. And now she's probably going to go with someone else."

Mom rolled her eyes and I knew she was going to give a lecture. I wish I could leave, but Mom was in the door way. "Well. I'm sorry Malcolm that my mother's sister-the one who took care of me every day after school had to die and inconvenience your social life."

Mom glanced at me. "Both of you come to breakfast." She went back inside.

I really hope she wasn't going to make me wear a dress. I didn't like them, funeral or not.

I smacked into Malcolm's shoulder as I walked past. I didn't forget about before.

I sat down at the table and stared at some kid around Dewey's age, eating Fruit Loops at the table.

I asked. "Who's that?"

Mom was also staring and by the look on her face, I could she didn't know him either. "That's what I'd like to know. Who's this?"

The kid was sitting between me and Reese. I reached over and grabbed the cereal, pouring myself a bowl and then putting in the milk.

Reese exclaimed. "How am I supposed to know?"

Mom turned to Dad, demanding. "Hal?"

Dad was by the fridge, drinking juice. "Beats me?"

I stopped eating for a moment. "Ask Dewey. They look the same age."

Dad sat down next to me, ruffling my hair. "Hey, Kiddo."

Mom nodded, going into the TV room and calling. "Dewey!"

I said. "Hey, Dad."

Mom said when Dewey came in. "Is this a friend of yours?"

Dewey nodded. "Mm-hm."

Mom sounded confused. "Who is he?"

Dewey shrugged. "I dunno."

I went back to eating.

_Dewey was a weirdo. _

Dad looked past me and at the kid with the bowl cut hair.

_I mean, who even cuts their hair like that?_

Dad asked. "What's your name, son?"

The kid had a weird stare, it was a bit creepy to be honest.

He whispered something.

Dad asked. "Did he say Greg?"

I shrugged, but Mom said. "I think he said Craig."

Dewey said. "His name is Egg."

I blinked. "Dude, where do you meet these people?"

Dewey said, sounding pleased. "I named him."

Mom said. "Well, you can't keep him. He needs to go home, okay?"

Dewey steered him away.

I just finished when Mom took my bowl. "Hey!"

I was still wearing sleep shorts and a tank top.

"Go on, dress in something nice."

I froze. "Mom-"

I was pulled up out of the chair. "Do _not _start with me, Charlie. A dress or a skirt. I won't hear _any _arguments."

I whined. "But, Mom-"

"What did I just say, now go." I was pushed toward her room and I scowled, stomping toward it. She didn't trust my nice stuff in our room and that was for good reason. I sat on their bed, crossing my arms over my chest, feeling grumpy. The funeral was already going to be boring.

Mom came in. "Okay, Charlie, the boys are getting dressed, so I'm going to give you your clothes in here."

I spoke up. "I could always wear a suit."

Mom laughed. "Don't be ridiculous." I scowled deeper at her back as she went to look in a drawer. "Here we go."

She had a bundle of clothes in her hands and she dropped it on the bed. "There, I even gave you choices. More than your brothers are getting. Now choose."

I just stared at the pile of clothes.

Mom let out a deep breath. "Charlie, we're losing time."

I grumbled. "I don't want to."

Mom snapped. "_Charlotte. Now."_

Realizing I wasn't getting out of this, I went through the clothes. I shoved the dresses away from me with disgust (ignoring Mom as she rolled her eyes), finally picked a black skirt and a dark blue girl button down. I think Mom called it a blouse.

Mom put her hands on her hips. "Well?"

I felt my face go red. "Turn around."

Mom laughed a bit, shaking her head. "Charlie, I'm your mom. I've seen you naked since you were a baby."

I felt my face get hotter. "Mom! Stop!"

_This was worse than the girly clothes. _

"Fine, fine." I ignored her smile as she turned her back to me and changed, slipping on the skirt and shirt. I buttoned it up and said. "Fine. I'm done."

She turned around, shaking her head. "Charlie. Come here." I walked over and I groaned as she started tucking in the shirt into the skirt. "Ah, stop complaining. You can dress in girl clothes every once in a while. It won't hurt you."

I huffed. "Yes, it will."

Dad walked in with some cards in his hands. "Hello, girls." He sent me a grin. "You look great, Charlie."

I huffed again. "No."

Mom patted the side of my leg. "Go on." I walked out, hating this. "And brush your hair."

I walked out, going into my room for the brush and tugging on my hair until it was neat. Reese looked at me and laughed. "You look stupid."

I snapped. "You're stupid!"

I stomped toward the room and sat on my bed.

I picked up a broken looking action figure. "What's this?"

Reese ran in and snatched it. "Don't be so loud. I'm gonna hide it in Aunt Helen's casket so mom can't yell at me for it."

I scoffed. "Dude, you're so dead."

He made a fist. "Not if you don't keep your mouth shut."

I raised my hands. "Man, not even worth it."

I tugged on the skirt with a sigh. "I hate this." Dad already told me the funeral was going to take all day. I hated meeting up with family. They always pinched our cheeks and said 'how old we've grown'. _Like it hasn't even been that long._

Malcolm came in with the phone and I rolled my eyes, leaving the room. I didn't want to hear him complain to his 'girlfriend' again. He was so dramatic.

I went into the kitchen, where Dad was sitting at the table. I went to grab some cookies.

"Don't mess up your nice clothes, honey. You know it will make your mom mad."

I nodded, not really paying him any attention. "Uh-huh. Got it."

Dad walked into his room and I smirked as Reese came out with a backpack. I put the rest of the cookies away, munching on the ones I had.

Dad asked, coming back into the kitchen. "You're bringing a backpack to a funeral?"

I watched as Reese stuttered a bit. "My-my back gets cold!"

Dad shrugged and I snickered, only to wince at his punch to my shoulder. "Shut up!"

Before I could say anything back, Mom came in with the phone. "Look, Francis, I guess I get scatterbrained sometimes. Sometimes I forget what I told you and your not here, so I don't-"

There was a pause for a moment as I guess Francis was speaking. I mean, Francis used to pick on us, but it sucks not having our oldest brother here.

Mom then suddenly said sternly. "Francis, it is very important that you understand that, that is not true. But, I don't have time right now."

"Francis, you want to know everything that has been happening? Your father mowed the lawn, I finally got Charlie in girl clothes, Reese polished off all the cereal and I dropped a frying pain on my foot and have a big black toe. You want me to send a picture?"

I jumped as I saw Egg come in. "Crap! Dude, where'd you come from?"

I was a bit annoyed as he ignored me and stared throwing stuff out of the drawer. Annoyed, I called. "Mom! Egg is back!"

Mom came over, phone in hand. "Egg! Cut it out!" She handed the phone to me. "Charlie, talk to your brother, get him off my back."

I went into the living room, plopping down on the couch. Malcolm was talking to Mom about something I wasn't listening to.

"Hey, Francis."

"Thank you, someone's actually talking to me. Dork, what's going on? How did Aunt Helen die?"

I shrugged. "Cat ate her face."

"Seriously!?"

I nodded, even if he couldn't see me. "Yep, it was really weird, but Dewey knows more about it. I'm bored an' don't want to go."

"At least you get to go with the family. She never tells me anything."

I glanced over, seeing Malcolm caught in a lie. "Talk to you later, Malcolm gonna get in trouble. I wanna watch."

"Charlie! Don't han-"

Knowing I would get a earful later from him, I turned on my knees to face the kitchen, my arms resting on the back of the couch. I tossed the phone on the counter (forgetting to end the call), cheering in my head as the phone didn't fall and break like last time.

"Look! I just don't want to go to the stupid funeral! There's no reason for me to go and I want to go to the concert with Julie."

Reese came in. "Let's go. Let's go. I'll be waiting in the car." I rolled my eyes as he walked past me with his backpack.

I gulped as Mom stared at Malcolm. _He was gonna get it. _"Malcolm, I am ashamed of you. Wanting to deny your poor Aunt Helen her do."

I thought that would be the end of it, the usual 'Mom Guilt Trip'. But Malcolm came back. "No, that won't work on me." He followed her as she went around the kitchen. "'cause I know you didn't love Aunt Helen. You hated her."

My jaw dropped and I shared a look with Dad. He was sending me the same look, glancing at Mom and Malcolm.

I looked back when Mom said (where she was packing lunch in a cooler). "Of course I hated her. What does that have to do with anything?"

Malcolm was confused and I was too. Why did we have to go if Mom hated the woman. _You go to funerals because you care about the person who died, right?_

Malcolm asked. "What?"

Mom said. "Malcolm, it's not about love, it's about family. We have a duty to this family and we are darn well gonna do it."

I scowled at that; Francis wasn't here. I wasn't going to say anything. Malcolm was in enough trouble already.

Malcolm complained. "But why?! It's not fair! You can't just stick the word family in front of something and turn everyone else into slaves. It makes no sense. No one liked this woman. So why do we have to pretend like we did now?! What good will it do anybody?"

My jaw dropped even further. _He was so dead!_

Mom the turned to Dad, who froze. She waved a hand, expectant. "Hal?"

Dad said, waving some card. "I got nothing."

I watched in pure shock as Mom rounded the table. "I could really use some support here."

I sent Malcolm a look. 'Dude, shut up'. He sent me a glare, before following Mom.

Dad told Mom. "Excuse me, I'm being incredibly supportive. I'm giving up my entire day for this-this thing and you don't hear me complaining."

My eyes widened. _That didn't seem like the right thing to say. _

Mom put her hand on the table, waving her other hand. "Hal, it was some old record albums. It's not like your giving up something important."

"Well, they're important to me!"

"You people! I can't believe-I ask you to do one thing."

"Your not asking, you're ordering." I winced as she started smacking the phone into the counter. _Oh yeah, I didn't hang up. _

"After all I do for this family. I cook, I clean, I speckle, I plunge and none of it means anything to you people. And the one time I ask you for something, something I shouldn't even have to ask you for. And all I get are complaints."

I sighed as I heard Reese blaring the horn. Why doesn't he just bury it in someone's backyard?

Dad got up. "What about me? Hm? You think I want to be cleaning out the gutters when I could be surfing the beaches of Europe or cursing around on my hog?"

Mom snapped, making a face. "What hog?"

Dad pointed at her. "Ha! Exactly! Where's my hog!?"

I was completely silent as Mom rolled her eyes. She walked off. Dad asked. "Where do you think you're going?"

Mom ripped off the apron. "I have had it. For now on, no one has to do anything. We can all just do whatever we want! And I want to take a bubble bath!"

Dad walked the other way. "Fine!"

Malcolm called. "So, that's a yes on the concert?"

I hopped over the couch and punched him hard in the stomach. "Ow! Charlie, what was that for!?"

He was kneeling and clutching it. I snapped. "You caused all of that. Don't get mad when it bites you in the butt later!"

I left him groaning on the floor and went into my room. I don't understand too much. But, I know it upset Mom a lot, more than usual.

* * *

I quickly changed into shorts and a t-shirt, grabbing my baseball glove, my own ball in the glove. I tossed my Padres hat on my head (Dad got it for me a couple of years ago when he took me to a game). I walked out to see Reese and Malcolm arguing.

Malcolm was shirtless and holding up shirts and Reese was still wearing the blue suit.

He was pissed. "You couldn't keep your big mouth shut until after the funeral?! Now, I have to wait for another relative to die to bury this thing. That could be weeks."

Malcolm told him. "You'll think of something."

"No, I won't! You have good ideas all the time. But, for me, this was special."

Malcolm snapped. "Hey, you can't leave this mess here! I have a guest coming over." He was talking about the garbage can on its side, all the garbage on the floor.

Reese sneered. "Too bad. Thanks to you, no one has to do anything anymore. It's anarchy, baby!"

I snorted, passing them. "You're both losers."

I heard two voices snap. "Shut up!"

I smirked, walking and heard something. I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"CHARLIE! Finally, someone answered me!"

Not wanting to talk, I nodded. "Yeah, okay, my bad. See ya."

"Dork, I swear if-" I clicked off the phone, tossing it away.

Dad was messing with his old people record player. "See ya, Dad!"

He waved a hand without looking at me. "Bye, Charlie."

I jogged over to the park. "Hey!"

A couple friends of mine were there and setting up a game with some plastic plates as bases.

"Hey, Charlie!"

It was Andy, he was a couple years older than most of us at 14 and sort of our leader when we played. It was Tommy, Andy, Eric, Jim, Marty and Me. The other team belonged to the local little league team. We were always playing against each other.

Eric, a boy with glassed and blond hair, asked. "Didn't you have a funeral to go to?"

I waved a hand. "Nah. Let's play ball!"

We cheered and Tommy asked. "We doing the usual?"

Andy nodded. "Yeah. They're batting first. Charlie, your our pitcher, Jim, catcher, Tommy, first, Mark and Eric, outfield, Marty, second and I'm third."

That's the usual position we had while playing. We moved into play. I nodded at Jimmy, who was crouching behind home plate. As catcher and pitcher, we could read each other pretty well. I grinned at Travis, the player from the little league team. "Let's play ball!"

I got cheers on both sides. The game started as I threw the ball, landing a strike.

I caught the ball from Jim and threw another ball, but it got a hit, going to left field. It was a pop-fly and Mark caught it. I grinned.

* * *

We were in the third inning (just like little league, we only had six). I managed to score a run by getting a base hit and having the other players doing the same thing as I slid to home base.

I was about to pitch again, but heard a yell. "Charlie!"

I yelped and dropped the ball. I looked over the street and saw our van. I heard snickering. "Shut it, Tommy!"

Mom shouted. "Charlie! Let's go!"

I made a face complaining. "But, I'm in the middle of a game!"

"_Now, _Charlie! Or you won't play for a week!"

I growled under my breath as my whole team laughed at me. I felt my face flushed red. The other team was also snickering at me. I was hunching my shoulder, balling my fists and gritting my teeth.

"Time!"

Andy came over, slapping my shoulder hard. I yelped for a different reason, rubbing the smarting skin. "Ow!"

"We'll play another day, go on before you get grounded." _It's happened before. _

"Yeah. Whatever Andy." He played reserve pitcher when I wasn't there.

I grabbed my stuff and jogged off to the van, Mom calling. "Hurry up, Charlie. We're already running late!"

I heaved myself inside, siting next to Reese, Dewey and Malcolm were in the back. "Come on, I thought we weren't going!"

Reese was scowling, but I thought he would be happy, considering he wanted to bury that toy. He must of got caught.

Dad nodded. "Yeah, but we are. So, let's go."

I tossed my baseball stuff on the floor. I hated leaving in the middle of the game, I felt like I was letting my team down.

* * *

We were all sitting together on the pews. I was between Malcolm and Dewey, and Mom on Malcolm's. That Egg kid was also here.

Dad was up, giving his speech as he did at every funeral.

He said. "Aunt Helen used to say, 'your going to miss me when I'm gone'. And ah, by the looks of today's turnout, I can see that it wasn't just an idle threat."

I just noticed Mom was talking to Francis quietly on the phone, but I couldn't hear what she was saying as she was whispering.

I glanced at Reese, who was in the corner, (it made me smirk when she grabbed him by the arm and marched him to the corner), ignoring his whining.

"You turn right back around, mister!"

I jumped a little, happy that wasn't aimed at me.

I leaned my head back as Dad got into it.

_We were gonna be here for a while._

* * *

I walked with Dad into the stadium. He got these tickets from work and we were in a good spot. I sat with him and we had some soda and Cracker Jack. I just turned ten and Dad knew I loved baseball and he took me.

It was the Padres vs Marlins.

We watched and cheered as the Padres got a home run in the second inning, booing when the Marlins started to catch up.

I've seen a lot of games on T.V, but my first baseball game with Dad will be something I'll always remember.

I grinned at him as we left. "Dad, that was awesome! The Padres' kicked butt!"

Dad laughed, patting me on the back. "Who knows when we can see another game, but happy you liked it, kiddo."

Something was tugged over my head. I took it off and saw it was a baseball cap with the Padres on it.

I hugged him. "Thanks Dad!"

_I still had the hat to this day._


End file.
